Blood Soaked World
by Emo-Shukun
Summary: Raped three separate times. Her parents killed during the time, and she's forced to live with the Morinozuka family. They try to help, but now she has fallen silent and is terrified of guys. Takashi realizes he likes her a lot, but she's his sister now!
1. Chapter 01

**Chapter 01**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

The first chapter will be about the past, _which is why most is in italics_, the next chapter will be present.

_"Haruhi, I want you to learn martial arts!" A woman with brown hair cheered.  
A little eight year-old made her hands into fists and cheered. "Yeah!"  
"Haru-chan, you're so cute!" A man came over and hugged her._

They were a small family of three, small… but extremely happy.

_The next day, they took their little precious daughter to the closest dojo that was said to be watched over by a rich family… Morinozuka or something. She was very lucky because there were a few others around her age, four boys; two of them were clinging to the other two—obviously, they were two sets of siblings. Fujioka Haruhi was nudged over to meet the Haninozuka brothers, Mitsukuni and Yasuchika, and then met the Morinozuka brothers, Satoshi and Takashi. It turned out that her mother had done just one case for Morinozuka Akira, and to repay her due to her rejecting a small fortune, he would train the little girl._

_Mitsukuni slipped on his supposed stern face by smiling and hugging the girl, telling her how cute she was even though she was a little taller than him. Satoshi joined on the other side and hugged her while agreeing with the blonde-haired ten year-old, and so they were squeezing her in between. Takashi only looked at her with faint tinted red cheeks, probably agreeing with his cousin and little brother about the girl being cute. Yasuchika told them that they were being weak, and had to stay strong as elite families, but she giggled at him, causing him to flee from the scene in tears._

_"I'm Fujioka Haruhi, um… it's nice to meet you all." After Haruhi said this, they began to snuggle against her happily, causing the three to stumble over one another. "Wah! G-Get off! I can't breathe like this!"_

_"Satoshi, Mitsukuni." Takashi spoke, and she looked at him in surprise for speaking.  
Mitsukuni looked at him as well, then at the girl. "Oh… sorry," he straightened himself up.  
"Yeah, sorry, we don't have many friends." Satoshi grinned despite being seven years old.  
"What about school?" Haruhi asked them curiously. "Surely you have friends there."_

_Before any could answer, Akira stepped in and began to train specifically with her as the boys watched._

_Perhaps an hour or two later, her training was over for the day and her mother came to pick her up from training at the dojo. After waving to her new friends, Haruhi took her mother's hand and began walking home with her, not knowing that it would be the last time she would hold her hand. There were a couple of men smoking and drinking outside of the dojo in the alleyway, an alleyway in which they had to pass by. They were noticed instantly and were surrounded like prey for the wolves, one had stepped forth to gather their attention while another from the opposite side struck the woman._

_Haruhi screamed for her mother, but something was placed against her face, and passed out._

_Takashi paused on the mat when thinking that he heard a girl's voice, he doubted that it was Haruhi, but there was no harm in finding out. He told his father that he heard something outside, but only received the response saying that it was probably the air whistling outside. His entire being told him that something was wrong, but what could a ten year-old boy do at a time like this—at any time for that matter? The boy came to the front entrance and started to open the door after thinking about it for twenty minutes, and a gunshot was heard outside the dojo. _

The cycle had began.

_Akira rushed over to make sure his eldest son was not hit, but Takashi pointed towards the others that were running away from the scene. Everyone could hear crying, so Akira, Takashi, and several other men rushed to the scene to see that it was the woman who had left with her child moments ago. Both females were unclothed, bloody, and obviously, their bodies violated without permission… but the woman…_

_Kotoko was dead._

_Takashi saw Haruhi flinching in light spasms, so he came over and took off his robe to drape over her body, and saw a word embedded against her back. It was hard to see through the blood leaving the wounds, but it wrote in kanji, 'taken,' and he called his father over. Akira checked her as one of his men were calling for an ambulance, and he was disgusted with what happened outside his dojo—to a little girl._

_The boy silently gave a vogue to get revenge for the girl no matter what._

_For two weeks, she had stopped speaking and was forced to eat through in IV needle because she could not leave the hospital, and no one knew what to do. It seemed that she knew what happened to herself and her mother, and a nurse suggested that it was quite possible that she saw her mother being shot. The Morinozuka and Haninozuka were aware of everything that was happening Haruhi, paying for everything as an apology towards her now single-parent father. Though he was a little on the silent side now, Ryouji that he wanted her to continue her training with them, so something like this would not dare happen again. At the end of the second week, Haruhi decided to speak about the incident, and slowly began to eat as she would before everything had happened._

_On the day of her departure of the hospital, Akira allowed Takashi to come in and speak._

_The boy looked at for a second before bowing to her. "I'm sorry."  
"You did nothing Mori-kun…" She whispered with a rasped voice.  
"It's because I did nothing, I'm sorry." He did not look up at all still.  
Haruhi slowly got from the hospital beg, hand out to him. "Mori-kun."  
His head lifted to see her small hand; he did not understand her gesture._

_"You hold it dummy," after that was said, he stood straight and held her hand confusedly. "Still friends?"_

_"…friends call each other by their given names." He still avoided looking into her gaze, his cheeks tinting.  
"Are we still friends, Takashi?" Calling him by his surname made it seem quicker, but now it was friendlier.  
The said boy nodded his head once, still unsure what to do. "Those guys… I'll get them… I promise."_

_She now smiled weakly, "kay."_

_Ryouji and Akira watched the two in the room from the door, and the latter of the two spoke. "I'll make sure that the boys get strong enough to her safe." They looked at one another before continuing. "This may sound cruel, but if this was supposed to happen to her, then perhaps it was best now that later."_

_"Tell that to her dead mother." He whispered._

_It was somehow partially true; right now she could adjust to this and pretend it never happened._

_Someone older would know it was not fake nor a sick nightmare._

An eight year-old child, raped, one time.

_X—_

_A twelve year-old girl threw a punch at an eleven year-old, only to have it blocked and have a kick sent her way, how annoying. For the past for years, the Morinozuka family escorted her home in a car every night she had to have training with the family head, Akira. Right now, she was only practicing with Satoshi while Takashi was watching from the distance against the wall on a bench. The Haninozuka siblings were busy elsewhere, but everywhere around her, they kept saying how they would protect her from strangers. It was surprising how she would disregard theses words as an everyday event to shrug off her shoulders._

_Did she not believe them?_

_Did she forget what had happened?_

_"That's good enough, Haruhi." Akira called._

_Perhaps the only think that unnerved the man about this child was her way of understanding everything around her, especially right now. She could look him in the eyes and know that he was thinking that this martial arts thing was not going to be something she would be good at. Akira understood very well that she was a brilliant child—probably smarter than his two sons, but she was not in the least bit stronger. As if she read his thoughts by looking at his frown, she went over towards Takashi with Satoshi at her side as he gave her a bottle of water. The young sibling whined when not being handed a bottle of water, but to quiet him down, Takashi had also given him one as well._

_"Haaaaruuuu-chan!" A voice called from the entrance._

_Haruhi looked over her shoulder, a little surprised to see him. "Dad, what are you doing here?"  
"I got off work early again! I'm going to take you home myself! It's twice in a row!" He cheered happily.  
The Morinozuka's wanted to disagree, or at least take them both home, but they would not speak out.  
"Maybe you should ask that cute boy Arai-kun to come join you—" before he giggled, she rejected him.  
"No way," with this, she drank some water from the bottle. "Arai-kun doesn't like karate anyway Dad."  
"You're so mean Haruhi! He likes to watch over you!" Fake tears descending from his face…_

_Haruhi became annoyed at her father before turning to the man in charge of her training. "Akira-san, can I go ahead and go home now?" She received a nod of approval, and she looked to the boys. "Bye Satoshi, bye Takashi, see you next time." With this, the girl tugged her father out of the dojo. "Come on Dad…"_

_Takashi had a bad feeling about her going home without being in a car, but as soon as he motioned his thoughts into action, his father looked at him with a scolding face that told him not to interfere with them._

_Once that was established, the Morinozuka siblings began training with one another._

_They went on and on for an hour—until they heard a gunshot like four years ago._

_Akira had some men come with him while telling his sons to stay behind._

_The younger one obeyed as the older ran off because he knew…_

_He knew that Fujioka Haruhi was somehow, once again,_

_**Hurt.**_

_The group hurried to the same alleyway where Haruhi was last attacked but she was not there, though something told the boy where she was. Takashi ran off into the distance across the street, not caring that he had almost been hit by a car in the process of his pursuit. Akira and the other men followed the fourteen year-old boy towards a playground that was on the other side of the cement wall, and found them. Ryouji clothed and covered in blood from a gunshot wound to the chest, his hand outreached to his daughter just a few feet away from him. Haruhi naked and also covered in blood on her back where the old healed scars were ripped open in the same places to cause more damage. The boy removed his robe and placed it over her as he noticed the tears streaming down her face endlessly without consent._

_Why her? Why again?_

_Takashi could understand better about what has happened to her better than four years ago and how it has happened all over again. He knew that it was the same people as before, everything was almost exactly the same; a victimized girl and a dead parent. The boy then realized that she now had no parents or family to go to—what was going to happen to her now, was she going to be sent away? His attention went towards his father in hopes of having him solve the problem despite already calling for medics._

_Was that __**all**__ that his family could do for her? Call for an ambulance?_

_They had to do more this time; contact distant family members or something._

_Akira looked to his son that should not be there, and knew what he was thinking of._

_Two weeks passed as Haruhi was kept in a hospital room while doctors and nurses came in to either poke and prod her, or question her about the event. Takashi asked to visit every day after school for feeling responsible for what happened, but was upset that she was quieter than he was now. At least he was able to get her to eat food again so she would not live off the IV needles, but that was all he could manage to do while his little brother tried to cheer her up most of the time. It turned out that the family on her mother's side wanted nothing to do with her as the family on her father's side could not be found._

_Their father stepped in and accepted the girl to be an adopted daughter; she was their sister now._

_Days were going by slowly until Takashi accidentally overheard a nurse and his father talking—saying that Fujioka Haruhi's abortion was a success. He did not know the word fluently, so he went home to read a dictionary to find out that his newly adopted little sister was pregnant, but had something done to not be pregnant anymore. Pregnant meant having a child of her own; what child could manage such a horrid thing such as having a child of their own? When he came to visit her the next day, she looked at him as if she knew that he knew the truth about what happened, and she tried to reject him with her entire being._

_He would not let her do that, they were family now._

_"I will get them back for you." Takashi stated quietly, his hand on one of hers. "You'll be safe with us."_

_Even though he said this to her, there were no guarantees of her safety._

_After three months of silence towards the world, she had slowly begun to speak with her voice rather than her eyes, hands, and writing. She told her adoptive family that, during both incidents, she could only recall passing out due to a cloth against her face, and waking to seeing her parents killed. It appeared to her adoptive father that they may be targeting her for fun, therefore, he would make sure she would be safe._

A twelve year-old child, raped, two times.

_X—_

_Frowning as she placed around her sweaty neck, the fifteen year-old girl asked. "Satoshi, where's Takashi, he's never late for training." She then looked around, making sure she did not overlook him._

_"Oh, I think Yasuchika said something about Mitsukuni and Taka-nii joining a Host Club, but that's okay! I'll surely protect you!" Satoshi was enthusiastic when telling her this, but began panicking when she covered her mouth while shuddering. "H-Haru-nee! Are you okay?! Do you need an ambulance?! I'll c—!"_

_"Satoshi," Akira called. "She's laughing."  
"HUH?!" He looked over to her. "YOU CAN LAUGH?!"  
Haruhi hit him on the head. "O-Of course I can you dummy!"  
"OH MY GOD! SHE __**IS**__ LAUGHING!!! IS THIS SAFE FATHER?!"  
"It is, but I must know… what is so funny, Haruhi?" Akira raised a brow._

_"T-T-Takashi's a-a-a m-member of a-a-a Host Club!" Haruhi fell to the ground, tears falling down her face as she had laughed for the first time ever. Not those little cute giggles or half chuckles, it was a __**laugh**__. "I-I-It's a shame I don't go to O-O-Ouran Academy, I would love to see that!" She tried to wipe her tears._

_Satoshi, out of worry of her state, called Takashi who answered. "Taka-nii! Something's wrong with Haru-nee! Father said she's laughing but she's crying! I think she's going crazy! OW!" His head was hit with a shinai as his father then grabbed the cell phone away from him as Haruhi was still laughing hard._

_"She's fine, it appears you made her laugh." With this, Akira ended the call._

_Causing Takashi to rush home after hosting hours were over._

_In two hours, he was home at the Morinozuka estate, searching everywhere for the girl because he had to know if she was okay or not. He heard Satoshi telling someone to try harder, so he knew they were in the dojo here—Haruhi should have done all her training at the other one today. Either way, he ignored this as he walked in and watched his little brother teaching her to do a combo move, causing him to mentally sigh. They were utterly troublesome for having him worry like that; saying Haruhi was crying even though she was laughing—she had never __**laughed**__ before, so he panicked._

_Haruhi felt somebody nearby and looked to see the giant. "Welcome home." There was a small pause as he nodded, and she then turned away, giggling—trying her best to not start laughing all over again.  
"NO!!! STOP IT! YOU ALMOST DIED FROM LACK OF OXYGEN!!!" Satoshi panicked, his arms waving around crazily. "BREATHE HARU-NEE! BREATHE!!!" He pointed to Takashi. "SEE WHAT YOU DID?!"_

_Takashi blinked at the scene: Haruhi with her back turned to him, laughing. "…what did I do?"_

_"YOU JOINED THAT HOST CLUB—" Satoshi stopped as Haruhi laughed even more, and so he pointed at her. "I TOLD HER AND SHE KEEPS LAUGHING! SHE BARELY STOPPED LAUGHING LONG AGO!"  
"B-But it's funny!" The girl turned to them, wiping her eyes, smiling and laughing. "All we ever do is train and travel with the Haninozuka family. Now he's serving tea and entertaining girls?! Come on Satoshi!"  
He crossed his arms to think about it, and lightly smirked. "W-Well… h-he's there for M-Mitsukuni s-so…" It was too late, the image spread through his mind like wild fire and laughed like crazy. "YOU'RE RIGHT!"_

_Takashi blinked again, watching his little brother and adoptive sister, laughing at him uncontrollably._

_He was not happy about it at first, but Haruhi was smiling as she laughed with tears of joy, something he had never seen her do before. Therefore, he would not be angry or upset about it, instead, he came over and rustled their heads with his rough callused hands, smiling ever so lightly. The smaller two looked to one another before laughing even more at the smile, they were forever scarred of the Morinozuka host._

_Hearing something, Takashi turned, only to see his father with a hand to his mouth._

…_even their __**father**__ was chuckling._

_School started for her one week after Ouran Academy started for her adoptive siblings; everything when great: good classes, nice teacher, and tolerant classmates. Takashi would send her a text every hour to make sure she was fine, reminding her to be careful since he had a bad feeling about her being at school. Haruhi casually dismissed his worry because it was most likely the fact that he was always paranoid when it came to her leaving the estate without any supervision. Every now and then, she wanted to call him by the title 'brother,' just to see what his reaction would be like, so she could not text it in reply. When all of her classes were finished for the day, Takashi called her on the phone, so she answered with a sigh._

_"I'm fine Takashi, you honestly need to stop worrying like this, or else you'll get more white hairs." Haruhi stated with a light laugh as he stated she was delusional. "No I'm not, you have three!" He did not bother asking her how she knew this, but he continued to tell her to be careful. "I know, I know, don't worry—"_

_Hearing her stop in midsentence worried him. "Haruhi?"_

_"T-Takashi…" she stuttered, then dropped the phone and tried to flee, but Takashi heard her yipe in pain while male voices chuckled in the background. "L-Let go!" One of the men asked her if she remembered them, and most likely sent fear down her spine when she __**did**__ recognize them from before. "Y-Yes…"_

_Takashi abandoned the Academy and ran to her school because it would be faster than waiting for some damn limousine or taxi to come get him. He wanted to call for an ambulance in hope of it meeting him there at the scene, but he did not want to end the phone call that was still there. His adrenaline was going crazy with anger when hearing her muffled screams and yells—she was definitely conscious this time around, and it was going to scar her. The giant's speed as he heard nothing from Haruhi now—why, did they knock her out, did they choke her to death—was she dead?_

_On the phone, one of the men snorted while saying that she needed a reminder of who she belonged to, and Takashi knew what it meant. Damn it all, if only her school was not five miles away, and if only he had a second cell phone in his possession at this moment! Speaking of which, his phone kept beeping, signaling that he was receiving an incoming call from someone, and he barely looked to see that it was Mitsukuni calling him. He would have to apologize later for abandoning him at school, but someone's __**life**__ was endanger, they killed her mother… and then her father… now it was probably her turn—_

_"STAY AWAY NII-SAMA!"_

_Takashi skidded to a stopped when hearing her voice, 'stay away… nii-sama,' why the Hell would he turn around now all of a sudden to let her get killed? A man scolded her for yelling and struck her, as some of the other guys were still playing with her body, both inside and out most likely. They did not know what she was yelling about, until he heard them mention the phone… damn, they would end the call soon._

_"IF YOU DON'T LISTEN, I'LL HATE YOU!"_

_The phone died._

_He tensed at these words, what was he supposed to do now?_

_For the first time ever, he disobeyed her, and ran to the scene that was now up ahead._

_Takashi found her behind some brush, again lying naked in a pool of her own blood, but this time she was unconscious when he found her. He removed his coat, summoned the ambulance, took her to the usual hospital, and was completely stunned by the events afterwards. The giant watched Haruhi stir and saw her surroundings before practically going insane at the sight of a male doctor at her side. His form came over in hopes of settling her down, but instead of having her calm down, she began to sob endlessly._

_Haruhi did not want __**any**__ visitors for the week, especially after hearing that she was once again pregnant because of those bastards, but her body could not handle having another abortion if she wanted to have a chance of having children in the future. She did not care, she wanted it gone, she wanted the traces of her attackers out of her mind, but a man entered the room to tell her otherwise—if it was someone other than her adoptive father who showed grave concern about her health, she would object. Her adoptive siblings came in slowly and quietly so they would not scare her, and her little brother came over to sit at her side in hopes of trying to find a way to comfort her, causing her to cautiously place a hand on his head of hair. The girl knew that Satoshi, Takashi, and Akira would not harm her, from here on, they would be the only men she would ever trust—though Takashi's trust was now thin after betraying her when he did not listen to her telling him to stay away, and he knew it._

_Akira told her that they would help her take care of everything during the pregnancy, and whether or not she wished to keep it or give it up for adoption was her choice alone. Takashi wish he could speak up, but right now he really needed to know his place when he knew that he should not be talking aloud right now. Satoshi, on the other hand, confirmed their father's words, telling her that they would help her, as would the servants at the estate where they all lived, that way she would not be hurt. Haruhi was unhappy that they wanted her to go through the pregnancy, but she instantly knew she wanted it to be gone forever._

_Months passed, she gave birth to a daughter and gave it up for adoption without ever meeting it due to the request of being under anesthetics while they received her through a __caesarean __section. After having a year of homeschooling, it was time for her to go to high school, and Takashi demanded firmly, whether she liked it or not, to enter Ouran Academy. With no power to fight or struggle without words, she had to except her fate, and risk meeting men as she now cowered from all—even towards male servants._

A fifteen year-old child, raped, three times…

Now she is suffering more damage than she ever had.

* * *

Let me know if it should continue. It'll be present time next chapter.


	2. Chapter 02

**DarkRavie:** I thought I had mentioned somewhere in the story that it was the same group of men, but knowing me, I probably didn't. You'll find out why another time though.  
**MayContainRandomness:** Takashi, the pessimist, cheer someone up? Lol.  
**Dannyyob:** It depends on how awesome the reviews are, and if I can get good enough ideas.  
**slmCandle:** Your little "determine how high off the scale to rank" almost made me _not_ want to update. Please refrain from "determining" the stories rank, thank you.  
**dragonite462:** To be honest, yes, I have read 'Bitter Virgin' a long time ago. I had _completely_ forgotten about it until you mentioned it! But because their a bit similiar, all the more reason to change it up a bit! Thank you for bringing it up!  
**xXxXxTainted-WingxXxXx:** Uh-oh, a die-hard fan? Awesome.  
**-Arashi-Yuuna Fukushima-:** So much potential that I don't know what I'm doing!

I know that this chapter is going to be a little bad because of the introductions and everything.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 02**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

Now everything is at present timing.

A fifteen year-old boy knocked on the door before poking his head in to check on her. "Haru-nee, come on, we're going to be late. Ouran Academy starts a little early for the high school section." She did not move from her spot on the bed, staring at the uniform her adoptive family gave her to wear for school.

Takashi came towards the room to motion their brother to leave her alone before she went into a fit and began breaking things. Satoshi walked off as suggested, now he entered. "Haruhi," she flinched lightly. "Place the uniform on, it will be less likely for you to encounter the boys at school." Haruhi did not bother to look up at him because she knew everything that he was going to say to her in the morning. Takashi came over slowly, offering something in his hand—it was a watch for her to wear around her small wrist.

"The blue button is to let me, Satoshi, Mitsukuni, and Yasuchika know you're in trouble. The red one is to call for the police and ambulance." He watched as she was about to test it, but he blocked her hand from it gently. "Do you really want Mitsukuni and Yasuchika storming over here to make sure you are okay?" Her hand lowered and gave the watch back to him before extending her arm out for him to place it on her.

"There are twins that will be in the same room as you, they are nice guys who will not harm you. To them and everyone other than family, you're a boy, so they will watch over you in class." Haruhi finally looked up him, sad eyes and knitted brows—was she upset… angry… what? He finally placed the watch on her wrist and lightly patted her head, it was the only thing he could do without her flinching from his touch. "Get dressed, and come down for breakfast. A Morinozuka does not worry the ones around them, right?"

Fujioka—no, Morinozuka Haruhi nodded weakly before reaching towards the clothes to stare at them in her hands while thinking about it. Takashi asked if she would like any help placing the uniform on, and she nodded, so he summoned her servant before leaving the room. Already he had seen her bare body on three separate occasions, he unfortunately remembered every detail there was to know, and it made him sick. His mind would lean on the word on her back, 'taken,' it was embedded once and healed, but then the bastards caught her two more times and ripped through the skin that was now slightly raw and grotesque. The sensation of the marks were now almost to the point of being numb; if they carved the kanji in her body once more, she might lose the feeling altogether in those places. As soon as he found her servant, he directed her to Haruhi's room to help her get dressed for school, and she did as told.

Twenty minutes later, Haruhi came down the stairs to the dining room in her new school uniform that cause her two brothers gape. Last night they had told her to place her hair up in a high ponytail to make it seem like she would kick someone's ass—but she cut off her long beautiful hair! Perhaps it was best for her to do such a thing since it would make her look more boyish, so they both approved with no say in the matter. It did not seem that Haruhi was too happy about it either, but she would probably do anything to keep men away from her. Since she sat down and silent ate her breakfast, the other family members did the same in case she decided to run away up to her room to stay there.

* * *

"Oh! Who's this person?!" A blond-haired male jumped towards Takashi and Haruhi, his foreign colored eyes staring curiously with a smile. The latter of the two he jumped at, flinched, and hid behind the former to protect herself from the stranger. "S-Sorry, did I scare you? I'm Suoh Tamaki from 2-A, who are you?"

Haruhi clung to Takashi's coat against his back, not wanting to look at the person who jumped in her face.

"This is Morinozuka Haruhi, this is my other younger sibling." Takashi answered for her, not bother to say that she was adoptive or that she was a girl or boy. "Haruhi is very shy, and does not like other men."  
"Haru-chan!" Mitsukuni saw the girl clinging to his cousin—then again, she was his cousin now too! "You look so cute in our school uniform! Did Takashi show you around the school yet?" Her head shook softly.  
Haruhi watched the little cousin offer a hand to her, so she took it quietly and was lead towards the large building to explore before class started for them, and now Tamaki was whining in small fits for this.

"You said he doesn't like other men!" The blonde-haired character cried.  
Takashi looked at him. "Family members only." With that, he followed them.  
"So we're supposed to keep an eye on that puny guy?" Twins asked in unison.  
A shadowy character with glasses spoke. "Yes, please behave accordingly too."

Everyone was watching and staring in surprise to see a new student appear at the beginning of the school year, it was obviously a first year, but they did not know her—_him _rather. Haruhi did not like all of the looks towards her and wanted to run away, get into the limousine or car, crawl under the covers of her bed, and never come out again. Mitsukuni squeezed her hand gently to assure her that there was no reason for her to be so worried—he even told her aloud that everyone was just curious about who she was. Takashi knew that this would not comfort her uncertainty, so he place hand between her shoulders, leaning down to tell her quietly that she had to at least _try_ to be there for one day. A girl suddenly came towards them shyly, causing others to crowd around closely to see what would happen at the scene now.

"Are you new here?" She asked, and received no reply, causing her to be a little nervous. "I-I'm Kurakano Momoka of 1-A, it's a-a please to meet you?" Despite the silent treatment, Haruhi lightly bowed her head and tugged onto her brother to help her with the introductions. "U-Um, I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"This is Morinozuka Haruhi! Haru-chan has been mute for a while, so he can't really introduce himself, he isn't trying to be mean or anything!" Mitsukuni smiled happily, saving both cousins from complications; one does not speak, and the other rarely speaks. "Haru-chan will be going to class 1-A too! It would be great if you ladies can take good care of him for us! You see, he's really nervous around other guys."

"Oh, well… I'm Vice-Class Representative, I'll be sure to help you around your classes if you would like!" Momoka received a slight smile and a nod from Haruhi, causing her to blush. "Um, class will start soon."  
Takashi looked down to Haruhi with concern on his face, making some girls squeal. "You'll be okay now?"  
"Haru-chan, you're allowed to call us if anything happens, kay?" Mitsukuni cheered happily. "Be good!"  
Haruhi nodded to her brother and cousin before walking towards Momoka, offering her hand to take—causing the girl to blush while other girls began to squeal at how cute they were when holding hands.  
"Bye Haru-chan! Have fun on your first day here!" Mitsukuni waved enthusiastically at her. "Ah—wait!"  
Haruhi looked over to see him rush to her, and gave her a careful hug around the waist before giving her his precious Usa-chan. He told her to keep it safe, so she smiled, rustling his hair softly, and left them.

The bell rang and Momoka escorted her to their classroom, she was allowed to sit somewhere near the second last column by the window, about three rows back. So far, everything seemed fine, none of the guys were the least bit interested in her, but the girls… they were looking a little giddy somehow. She hugged the stuffed animal against her chest lightly, trying to think about where she would go if she ran.

"I see nothing special about you—" as soon as a male voice spoke right next to her ear, she jumped in shock, fell out of her seat harshly, and accidently bashed her head against the desk next to hers. "…"  
"Hikaru, that was mean!" Another spoke before smiling and offering a hand to help her get up. "Sorry, I'm Hitachiin Kaoru, he's Hitachiin Hikaru—we're the Hitachiin bothers." She stared. "Here let me help you—"  
As he tried to move closer, she tried to back up quickly—smacking her head on the desk again, she had forgotten that the desk was there. Suddenly, Momoka came and shooed them away from her thankfully.

"Leave Haruhi-kun alone, stop picking on the new student!" She demanded before helping Haruhi up.  
"Oh… that's right, Mori-senpai said something about that." Kaoru frowned. "I'm sorry we scared you."  
Haruhi nodded lightly in response to this before rubbing her head, only found out she was bleeding.  
"Gah! You're head! I'm sorry! I didn't think you would flip out!" Hikaru apologized as well for his actions.  
"Oh, Haruhi-kun, you should go to the infirmary!" Momoka offered to help her up, and she obliged to it.

"Mori-senpai wanted us to watch him, so we'll take him there." Kaoru received a frown by the Vice-Class Representative, and he explained. "We'll stay five to ten feet away from him at all times, I promise!"

Haruhi thought about it; how she did not want to be escorted by the two boys she did not know, but she remembered how Takashi told her that they would be there to watch over her. His words about being a family member of the Morinozuka family meant to have others not worry about them, but he was an idiot because he was always worried. She grabbed the pink stuffed animal and glanced at the twins with a faint nod before leaving the room, but brought her phone out to text Takashi.

"Um… Haruhi," Kaoru called out, she stopped and looked at him after the message was sent. "You're bleeding pretty badly, maybe we should carry you—if you let us." Her head shook, but the action caused her to almost to fall over. "See! You can barely hold yourself up! I don't know why you don't like guys b—"

"Haruhi," Takashi called, silently panting after running from his class. "What happened, are you alright?" He came over and checked her over, only to see the gash in the back of her head. "You're bleeding." She tugged his sleeve and pointed towards Hikaru with a frown. He looked at him. "Why is Haruhi bleeding?"

"Hikaru startled him and he fell off his chair. He hit his head against the desk. When I offered to help him up, he hit his head again by accident." Kaoru explained, scratching the back of his head. "We were on our way to take him to the infirmary so he could have it checked out. Both of us apologized already though."

Haruhi began to fall over due to the pain and loss of blood, Takashi caught her by the back of her collar.

Touching her body could startle her as it is, but if she was zoning out through pain, who knew what kind of reaction he would get. He told that it was him and that she was okay, though how could she be okay with a hole in her head, he needed her checked out. As a gentleman would ask for a woman to walk with him during a formal ball, he raised his arm to her that she took half-knowingly. Takashi told the twins to follow so that Haruhi could adjust to their presence being around, so they followed by a long distance.

"Oh my, is this Morinozuka Haruhi-sama?" The male nurse asked. "Hurt on his first day is he?"f  
"He will need a female nurse." Takashi stated before helping Haruhi onto the large bed.  
"Er—o-of course, r-right away." The man left in search for the female nurse of the academy.

"Why is this guy so terrified of guys, except towards family?" Hikaru asked rudely, earning a slap on the shoulder by his twin. "What?! It was rude how he jumped away from us earlier and you know it Kaoru!"

"Haruhi has—" Takashi was going to explain in light detail that she was abused in the least, but Haruhi threw a pillow at him to signify that she did not want them to know anything. "Are you angry at me then?" For years, he had known that she was angry at him for not keeping his word about getting her revenge. "Do you want to hit me?" If it were her, he would accept it without a fight, as punishment. "Then do it."

Haruhi mouthed the word, _no_.

It had always slightly irritated him about the fact that he knew she was angry with him but would never give him the punishment that he deserved. She was not particularly strong and lost the will to learn how to defend herself most of the time, yet she could still throw him across the room. He would appreciate it if she would tell in through words, ink on paper, or a text, that she hated him for what he failed to do for her. The male nurse returned to tell them that the female nurse was nowhere to be found, so he came over towards the wounded as he stated that he would check the wound.

Takashi did not approve, though his protective nature of his adoptive sister, he shoved the man away.

"Then he will go to the hospital." He stated firmly before turning to Haruhi. "Can you still stand alone?"

Haruhi shook her head and closed her eyes, falling unconscious due to the blood loss and pain.

* * *

Her head hurt so badly, she did not know where she was or how the got there, all she knew was that the back of her head throbbed in excruciating pain. Haruhi stayed still without showing signs of being awake as she took in her surrounding with her other senses that did not involve her sight. The girl heard beeping at her side, smelled the scent of latex gloves and disinfectants, and felt warm covers over her body.

She felt Usa-chan still in her arms, causing her to smile lightly and open her eyes.

Orange reddish hair stood out in front of her along with amber eyes, it was one of the twins sitting at her side on a chair, so she tried to look for Takashi. "If it's Mori-senpai you're looking for, he took Hani-senpai to the cafeteria for some sweets. My brother went to make a phone call to tono so he wouldn't worry." He watched as her brows knitted in thought and looked to the side where there was a notepad and pen that was left for her. "Do you want to write something?" She nodded weakly, and he placed the two objects on the tray above her lap as she sat up. "I really _am_ sorry we scared you, we'll try to keep our distance now."

Haruhi ignored whatever he said to her as she wrote on the notepad and shifted it towards him.

_Are you in the Host Club as well, Kaoru?_

He raised a brow, but grinned. "I'm Hikaru!"

She underlined his name three times.

"Okay, you're right." Kaoru sighed lightly.

Haruhi watched him for the moment, she could see in his down gazing eyes that he was innocent; not wanting anything but to help. Her throat was dry as she tried to swallow, and reached toward the table for the cup of ice cubes, but could not reach it all the way. Kaoru said he would get it, and he waited until her hand was away before grabbing it to place on the tray next to her notepad and pen. He was trying his best to be considerate about her boundaries, so he could not be as evil as those men from before, right?

The pen was raised and she wrote on the pad again.

_Why are you here? What happened was my fault._

"Because…" Kaoru paused, thinking of how to make it a game.

He slowly took the tip of the pen from her, and wrote back.

_Because I want to make sure that you'll be okay._

Haruhi looked at the notepad, and then at him, then replied on paper.

_Will you hurt me? Takashi_—she scratched it out, _Nii-sama says you won't._

"Of course I won't, why kind of a question is that?" Kaoru startled her by being vocal. "I just met you, and I have no reason to do anything to you—except be your friend, but nothing _bad_ to you!" He frowned sadly.

Haruhi took in his words carefully, knowing it was true as she looked into his eyes, then nervously brought her hand towards him as if wanting to shake his hand. He was wary about this person being nervous of male contact, so he placed his hand on the tray with his palm faced upwards for her. She looked at his hand when knowing that he was trying to make it easier for her, so she shakily grazed his fingertips with her owns as she was began to rest her hand in his. Kaoru was nervous about the other's reaction—so nervous that he jumped out of his seat ten feet away from her when someone knocked on the door.

Takashi entered, halting when seeing Kaoru panic while Haruhi looked at her hand. "What did you do?"  
"I-I-I—well, he—so I—" Kaoru did not know how to explain how he was about to touch a male's hand.  
Haruhi tapped the tray with a fingernail, shaking her head once receiving their attention, mainly Takashi's.  
"Are you okay?" The giant set down some sushi on the tray that he bought across the street for her.

Haruhi nodded softly before pointing towards Kaoru and then showing the adoptive sibling her hand, trying to explain that she barely touched someone of the opposite gender other than family—barely, but she did. He assumed she meant that Kaoru tried to touch her without her permission after so many of the warnings given, so he started to head towards the twin until his sleeve was tugged by her. She took his hand and cautiously placed her hand in his twice before, once again, pointing at Kaoru, causing him to slightly understand now what she was trying to tell him.

"You touched him?" Haruhi nodded, and received a pat on the head for this. "Good job." Takashi then turned towards Kaoru who shuddered. "Thank you for letting her reach out to her rather than forcing her."  
Haruhi smacked Takashi's arm and Kaoru questioned confusedly. "H-Her?" He then panicked as it slowly made sense. "That's why you don't want to be around guys! Wait—your _brother's_ a _**sister**_?!" He twitched.  
She glared at the sibling unhappily before turning on her side to rest. "Yes…please do not tell anyone." Takashi requested. "Mainly the girls will be around her if she if thought to be a boy at our academy."  
"Yeah, I don't doubt that." Kaoru scratched his head lightly. "So… if Haruhi's a girl and is practically terrified of being touched by guys, was she teased in school?" He laughed to motion it being a joke.

Haruhi lifted the covers over her head and curled up into a ball.

Takashi glared at the high school first year male for his words.

Kaoru stopped laughing as soon as he knew he was right…

"I-I'm sorry, I was just joking. I didn't think it was true." He tried to apologize to the girl. Kaoru wanted to be forgiven, so he came to her bedside with his hands in a praying motion. "Please forgive me, I didn't know. But if it's about me knowing you're a girl, don't' worry! I still promise not to hurt you Haruhi! So please…?"

Haruhi made no response, Takashi stared, and Kaoru slumped.

"You just made progress though, didn't you?" He asked weakly. "Do you _really_ want to be scared forever?"

"That's enough—" Takashi's was tugged on his sleeve lightly, he then looked to her to see a slight firm gaze, and was stunned when she motioned him to get out of the hospital room. He nodded dumbly. The giant was _never_ requested to leave by the fragile female, and looked to Kaoru. "Do _not_ make her upset."

After he left, Kaoru slowly returned to his seat next to the bed.

"He seems more protective of you than he is about Hani-senpai." The twin laughed lightly, and her head shook in disagreement to the suggestion. "You think he's more protective with Hani-senpai than you?" She nodded once. "That's so cruel Haruhi, he's been by your side today than he has been with him!"

It took him a minute to think about it, in a different perspective.

"Could it be… because nothing has happened to Hani-senpai that you think he's more protective of him?" Kaoru watched her flinch under the covers, and he frowned sadly when he knew he was right. "I don't know what had happened, but I'm sure it's not like that. Did… the teasing been happening a lot recently?" She did not move an inch. "Because last year, Mori-senpai was like an aggressive zombie a month after school started here." It was when she started her school, and when she got pregnant again, but she did not want to say this. "I might not know how anything happened, but I want to torment the ones who did this to you, okay?"

Haruhi did not like everyone saying this to her, they wanted her to depend on them, but she could not.

Everyone she used to depend on has died on the days she was raped years ago.

It was way she kept her distance from everyone else that was 'family.'

Someone knocked on the door, and the two turned to look.

A male doctor walked into the room with a cheerful smile, though Haruhi on the other hand, was more terrified than when Hikaru tried to tease her at school. She knew those eyes and that face, she knew who the man was without even thinking hard about where she would know him. All of the monitors that she was hooked up to began beeping like crazy as she was mentally panicking—not for herself, but for Kaoru. Haruhi understood that the twin genuinely wanted to be her friend, Takashi even told her this, yet if this man wanted what she thought he would, Kaoru could be killed. The girl turned to the boy sitting next to her bed, shoving him away, throwing things at him until he knew he had no choice but to leave the room.

Kaoru panted after exiting the room—she even threw the hospital phone at him!

"Kaoru." Takashi called as he was returning with Mitsukuni.

_'He would know what that was about!'_ He tried to control his breathing first before asking. "Why… did she throw… things at me…?" Kaoru looked to the door he escaped through. "I remember she was scared at the sight of the male nurse at school, but she was terrified of seeing that male doctor—but threw me out!"

Mitsukuni's once cheerful expression flinched, and hardened. "What are you talking about, _she_ is a _he_."

"No, I already know what happened—that's not relevant right now… okay, maybe it is! But as soon as Haruhi saw that doctor she shoved me out of the room!" He was trying to get answers from her family!

Instead, Takashi nearly broke the door down to the room as the other two poked their heads in to see why he was so angry, only to see him throwing the man away from her. The covers were away from her body, her arms wrapped around herself protectively in a weak fashion, and Mitsukuni instantly knew that pose. Now he too wanted to kill the man, but Takashi was trying his best to restrain himself from choking this man to death… a man involved in Haruhi's multiple gang rape.

However, he had to make sure.

"Was he involved, Haruhi?" His voice unfamiliar; dangerous, dark, and utterly terrifying.

Tears streamed down her face as she hid her expression into the pillow.

It was all he needed, Takashi rose his fist, but Mitsukuni interrupted. "Wait."  
The giant did not want to wait, this doctor—this scum, needed to be dealt with.  
"We need information for _that_." He replied sternly. "For now, he'll go to prison."

The man, who was supposedly a doctor, had smirked as he spoke,

"One down, but how many more do you think are left?"

* * *

Dun, duun, duuuun!

**Author Note:** This Chapter was edited due to Dannyyob. Therefore, Kaoru will not know that Haruhi has had any rapings yet. Besides, don't we all love a clueless Kaoru?

Sorry the chapter is a little crummy.

Anyone have any ideas for the future? Pleeeeaaaase? It's the only way this lag-monster will be updated!


	3. Chapter 03

**-Yuuki-Fukushima-:** You are just trying to kill me with loooong ideas zz;  
**kirbysama:** Yup! She is going to somewhat adjust to someone else in this chapter!  
**LoveBird669:** I have work. I do my own part-time business, and type from midnight to 8:00AM, a little credit huh?  
**slmCandle: **Yeah, I thought about that. However, Hikaru is too cocky of himself, and I do not want him to know Haruhi's secret, _yet_.

Okay, I want Haruhi to adjust very slowly, so watch as her relationships build one by one. Or... die trying if Satoshi does not chase them away.

* * *

**Chapter 03**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

"Hikaru, be nice! It's supposed to be Haruhi's breakfast, not ours!" The more feminine twin spoke with an upset tone when Hikaru stole her carton of apple juice. "Besides that, we already had two meals today!"

"So? It wasn't like he was drinking it." Said twin replied in annoyance; the bedridden patient was receiving more attention than he was from the other twin who was complaining. "He doesn't seem to care anyway."  
"You're partially to blame for his injuries and why he's here to being with!" Kaoru knew well after two days ago, that Haruhi was actually a girl, but had to keep quiet about it. _'That way she can trust me more…'_  
"Maybe it _was_ my fault, but I apologized for it. Though it doesn't explain why we're here instead of at school." His attention went to the clock, having to mumble in annoyance. "Though school's out by now…"

For the past two days, Haruhi had been kept at the hospital to make sure there was no postponed trauma from her head injury. Kaoru took the opportunity of asking if he could watch over her with hopes of trying to form some sort of bond with her during the time. Takashi was not too happy about the suggestion, but he needed to pay attention to his schoolwork, stay at Mitsukuni's side, and gather her homework. Satoshi agreed to the suggestion of someone other than family watching over her, but he added vital threats as to what would happen if they troubled her in any way. Yasuchika gave no outward opinion towards the entire situation, but they all could see in his eyes that he was not thrilled of strangers—in Haruhi's view—were to watch her. Mitsukuni on the other hand, was not at all pleased about it though he knew that the twins would not harm her purposely, but had to let her try. Hikaru was nervous about the plan of skipping school to watch over some 'pathetic boy,' especially when Mitsukuni looked like he would not trust them to be with the injured one. They all had to figure out what was best for Haruhi, the one who would not speak out her opinions, her needs and desires, her feelings… they all had to wing it.

"Hospital food is gross, I'm going across the street to get real food." Hikaru left the room in a hurry for the need of real food instead of the mysterious tasting food the nurses give. "I'll be back in thirty minutes."

Kaoru knew that he would do this, but did not mind. It gave him the chance to communicate with her.

"Is Mori-senpai still mad at you?" He flinched when seeing her scowl lightly at him. "He's just worried about you not asking for help. I mean… eventually there are going to be times where we can't be there for you—like… the bathroom, perhaps when it's time to go to bed." Though, he was not aware that her very protective siblings tend to sleep in her room, usually on beds brought in for them or on the couches. "You need to let others help. Like two days ago, had I known that was one of the jerks, I would have thrown him out of the room." Kaoru knew that she was trying to ignore him, he was not sure why, but he knew that he could not do anything about it. "Why _did_ you force me to leave anyway? You knew he was going to tease you… or hurt you even judging by Mori-senpai's reaction—" his voice cut off when she cried.

Lips trembling though her teeth were gritted. Her eyes watered and her cheeks wet. She turned away from him to pull the covers over her body. It was a way for her to say 'leave me alone' or 'I do not want to talk about it anymore,' he knew this. A knock was at the door, and it was her older brother and cousin.

Kaoru glanced at her before looking at the ground in thought of the clue she just gave him about her odd behavior the other day. For a while, he had been having a theory about her reasons and never mentioned it to anyone because it was not his place when he barely knew her. He stood from his seat that was then immediately taken by the small senior whom worried over the female in the hospital bed, and looked up.

"Mori-senpai, can I… have a word with you?" Nervously, he glanced towards the unresponsive patient and practically bipolar little blond-haired teenager. "It would be best if we talked in private maybe?"

Takashi wanted to deny the thought of leaving Haruhi's presence after _just_ arriving, but Kaoru's tone made it seem like it was very important, leading him to walk out of the room. Kaoru was right behind him, giving a contented sigh of relief to know he survived leaving the room; now he had to worry about the protective sibling that wanted to be at her side. Hikaru would still not be around for a good twenty minutes and Mitsukuni was definitely not going to be leaving Haruhi's side, he had to say it now.

"I think… that emergency watch won't help her." When he received a glare, he tried to explain hurriedly to him. "The guy you threw in jail two days ago, scared Haruhi, but she threw _me_ out instead." Hopefully he was not crossing the line because he still did not know her that well. "I saw how frightened she was, so it was obvious she knew him, and wanted to run for her life. However, she ignored the remote to signal for emergencies or nurses, not even hit one simple button on a watch." Kaoru saw the patience thinning in the giant's eyes, so he needed to hurry things up. "Is it possible that Haruhi's trying to protect _us_ instead?"

"She is," the giant replied firmly. He had known for a little less than a year now. "She does not want others to worry over her." With no new information, he headed towards the room. "Please excuse me—"

"She thinks she's not—" the twin stopped himself from finishing his sentence as the senior looked at him. He could _not_ break her trust by telling Takashi about her insecurities of how important she is to him. "I…"

Takashi was looking at him, all of his attention was on him, "yes?"  
"Uh… n-never mind, I…" Kaoru looked away. "I should go find Hikaru!"  
"You do that," he then walked into the room to watch over the delicate female.  
Allowing him to sigh in relief again, "that was close, she wouldn't have forgiven me."

Sadly, Kaoru was not aware that Takashi heard him through the door.

The giant shoved the words out of his mind for the moment before rolling a chair on the other side of the bed where she was facing. He was exhausted from always cramming homework and studies during all of the breaks between classes, lunch, and even during class. To make sure no one would worry—and to keep the flow of everyone thinking everything was okay—he and Mitsukuni had to attend their clubs. His hand extended to her with hopes of her accepting it in order to allow him to touch her without her being uncomfortable of his presence. Catching him by surprise, he watched as her form shrank away from his request of touching her, never had she shrank away from him before. What reason could she have to keep away from him suddenly, he always did everything he could to keep her safe, why was she trying—

Hitachiin Kaoru.

No doubt that he would know what this was about.

"What did you think would happen Takashi," Mitsukuni called quietly to not disturb the wounded patient. "You should know what scolding does to her." He then tugged at the sheets. "Haru-chan…" Thankfully, she turned around on the bed to look at him. "You want some cake? With yummy strawberries?"

She nodded weakly.

Knowing that he was defeated by the much smaller cousin, Takashi had no choice but to give the fragile adopted sibling her space. This would at least give him a chance to find Kaoru in order to know what he was about to say earlier; what Haruhi did not think she was. As he slid open the door though, a group of handsome boys were standing outside with smiles that had the nurses blushing from afar. The twins were somehow kidnapped into the visiting party—probably to make the Host King feel safer for coming there.

"Haruhi is not except non-family members at this time." His voice was stern but gentle.  
"Nonsense! We _are_ family!" The Host King cheered happily, until he heard a click.  
He cringed when he knew it meant that Mitsukuni locked the door. _'Damn it…'_  
"D-Did Hani-senpai just lock us out?" Kaoru twitched, surprised by the act.

"…cake…" They looked at the giant before walking away to fetch some.

"This isn't fair! How come you two get to be at his side all the time but we can't?!" The Host King sobbed. "I want to learn more about our new friend, all I know is that he is Mori-senpai's brother! Then there's that issue about being afraid of guys. Hmm… I wonder what that's about anyway. Maybe he was abused—"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Kaoru spoke surprisingly firm. He realized he snapped at him and looked away nervously. "I mean… it isn't right to assume or suggest anything, what if it's true?"  
His twin rolled his eyes at this in boredom. "He's from a rich family, he could be anything _but_ abused."  
_'Wait… why would a doctor tease her? She had a fresh bruise on her after that encounter with—there's more to it, isn't there?'_ He tried to think of all the possibilities, causing himself to become oblivious.  
"If it _is_ true, we'll help him!" The Host King cheered gleefully while his shadowy friend shook his head in disdain to his thoughts. "Kyouya, can't you get all records of Morinozuka Haruhi? Please oh please?"  
"Even if I wanted to, I can't." Though he was lying through his teeth, it was to protect the girl. "Any sort of information is heavily guarded, only petty things are known about; hobbies, likes, dislikes, and so forth."

"Then its settled! We shall have Morinozuka Haruhi-kun join us in the Host Club!"

After the blond-haired male said this in a completely a remarkable horrid manner of pride, the door was unlocked and slammed open to show an angry Haninozuka Mitsukuni. He stated darkly that Haruhi was rest due to her serious injury, and that he would break their necks if they decided to bug her in any form. His intentions were to protect her from being afraid of the male side of their race, but if they were going to push their friendship onto her, it could hold her back more. The others were assuming that he was fairly cranky because he did not have his afternoon nap, other than Kyouya and Kaoru, they did not know that he was just being protective of his cousin. Speaking of which, Takashi finally appeared with a tray holding two plates, a chocolate and a strawberry cake, both with rabbits drawn on them with white frosting.

This allowed the small senior to revert. "Haru-chan! Takashi brought our cake!" Despite Takashi setting it down in front of her on her personal bed tray, Haruhi mouthed a name to the little one, who did not seem too happy about it. "Kao-chan, Haru-chan wants you!" The one summoned nervously entered the room.

"Yes?" The twin was nervous; wondering if he had done something wrong.  
She eyed him lightly until looking over at the Host King, Suoh Tamaki.  
"H-He's a really big idiot, but he means well." He hoped he was on cue.  
"Tama-chan created the Host Club last year." Mitsukuni added quietly.  
Haruhi twitched at this and looked at the person with foreign eye colors.

Tamaki was going to complain about being called a 'big idiot,' but then the patient was beckoning him to enter, which led everyone to follow. Takashi was concerned about the number of males in the one room with her being the only female inside it, yet she seemed to be doing just fine. Haruhi rose her arm up with her hand pointing downwards, slightly rotating it to motion him to turn around so she could see him good. Of course—as stupid as _the_ Suoh Tamaki of Class 2-A _and_ President of the Host Club of Ouran Academy since its conception—he slowly twirled around like the idiot he was. Kaoru watched the girl as Tamaki was stating how he was beginning to get sick from spinning in one spot for too long; she was shuttering.

Her hand came up to cover her mouth before turning to hide her face, making him grin while pointing.

"Haruhi's laughing!" Over the few days, Kaoru thought it was impossible for her to laugh, but she was.

"Hosting…" Takashi started. "Is funny, to Haruhi."

"Hosting is not something to laugh at! We beautiful young men do everything in our power to help poor unfortunate young women! We give them hospitality and—" Tamaki stopped in speech when she sat up slowly, glaring at him. "H-Haruhi-kun?" He tried to play the nice guy card as the patient got up from the bed, dragging her feet towards him in an intimidating manner, but suddenly Takashi grabbed her tightly.

"Be nice." The giant warned, only to feel her flinch before throwing him across the wall for both stopping her, and touching her. She was not happy about this person and his theory of helping 'poor women.'  
Haruhi raised her hand to smack the Host King in the face. "Haru-chan, come eat the cake with me before it turns yucky!" Mitsukuni cheered happily to distract her, and her hand slowly lowered as she turned.  
After she sat back up on her bed and ate the cake with her cousin now sitting up with her at her side, the feminine twin decided to ask. "Hey Haruhi, how about you join the Host Club with us? It could be fun."

Haruhi looked at him unhappily for the suggestion; mainly because of the other males.

"You wouldn't have to host, you could do chores like… making tea or something. That way you wouldn't have to entertain guests, and you could be around Mori-senpai and Hani-senpai." Kaoru started to grin lightly as he saw her attempting to consider it. "It would be just us as guys, and none of us will harm you."

It took a moment to come to her decision, and shook her head—declining the offer.

Fujioka—Morinozuka Haruhi, would need a lot more time before joining a group made of males.

* * *

A week had passed with difficulty due to Tamaki's constantly trying to be persistent upon her joining the Host Club, and each time she ran away. Thankfully, he was an idiot who did not realize that she would spend her time in one of the libraries in a corner away from others. Though it was much to her dismay, she decided to take one book too many from the library to study; she wished she had a servant with her. Due to not being able to handle the six large textbooks, she crashed into a student in the hallway outside of the library, causing her to fall over and drop her books. Pain surged up to her bandaged head that was wrapped for safety measures, and she heard others gasping and whispering about her being in trouble.

Haruhi looked upwards with an apologetic expression to the person she bumped into, only to see that it was a redhead with a gangster style to his clothing manner. She lifted a hand to her head to soothe her headache that came suddenly, but froze when he knelt down to pick up all of her textbooks before setting them up on the windowsill. Her attention refocused on him once more as he then offered her his hand in a helpful manner despite the supposedly scary expression on his face.

But he was asking for permission.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Are you okay?" He asked her with his rough voice, and she nodded before nervously taking his hand. "I'm Kasanoda Ritsu from 1-D, what's your name?" A question she knew all too well, and she took out a piece of paper that revealed her name and class. "Ah, you're the guy that's mute?" He instantly knew that he accidentally made her uncomfortable with this little question and tried to make things better with her. "S-Sorry, that didn't come out right. Can I carry your books as an apology for bumping into you, and for my rudeness towards you. I look up to your brother."

She stared at him for the moment in surprise for hearing him say this; a complete stranger was being sincere about something that was truthfully her mistake, and admiring her older brother. Not able to resist smiling, she nodded gratefully to him before pointing to the note in her hand at '1-A' to signify that she had to go to her classroom to get her bag. Ritsu seemed to understand, so he grabbed the books off the edge of the windowsill before following her towards the classrooms at her side. They eventually arrived in the empty classroom where she began to put her things in her bag to get ready to leave the Academy.

He broke the silence. "Aren't you scared of me, like everyone else is?" Her attention went to him with a raised brow. "Well… everyone runs at the sight of me, and try to avoid me. I've heard rumors that you were afraid of other guys, but you didn't exactly flee at the sight of me." It was true, being near Kaoru had helped her, but this person was different too. With her big brown hues staring at him, he turned away with tinted red cheeks. "N-No offense, but you look like a girl—I m-mean, in a cute way! Er—wait, what I mean is—I er…" Ritsu not only stumbled over his words, but over his feet too, and began falling over quickly.

Curse her for having fast reflexes as she tried to help him before falling over, but her bag weighed her down and fell beneath him. The contents of her bag laid across the floor as the several textbooks skidded on the tiles, leading them in an interesting predicament. Ritsu bared his weight on his hands to keep himself from falling against her body while she was sprawled out beneath him while cringing in pain. A small object caught his attention; it was her wallet that fell from her pocket when falling—seeing her card caused to stiffen at the sight of her gender to realize that this male student was actually a female. His entire face became red as he slowly brought his attention down to her before quickly throwing himself away from her body and across the room without a second thought.

"S-S-Sorry! I-I-I should have been more careful!" The redhead realized that he had abandoned her on the tiles, causing him to nervously come over, offering his hand again. "H-H-Here, let me help you up, again." Haruhi looked at him confusedly before turning to where he was looking at, only to realize that he now knew that he was fully aware of her gender… but he was… panicked? "I-I guess you're pretending to be a guy to stay away from them…" It sounded logical, somewhat. "I.. I won't tell anyone. You're secret's safe with me, okay, Morinozuka?" Haruhi confusedly gave him her hand, and he helped her up. "I promise."

This person just learned the truth, just like that, and accepted it so suddenly?

Her lips moved to thank him, but nothing came out, and she frowned.

"Hey… um… how come you can't speak?" Ritsu bent down to pick up all of her belongings that had fallen everywhere on the floor. "There are rumors saying that you haven't been treated right when Morinozuka-aniki isn't around, but—" he witnessed her shutter and flinch at this, so he knew that he was on target. "U-Uh, sorry… I didn't think… er…" he did not know what to do. Once had her bag in a hand and picked up her books, he looked at her. "Are you going to be picked up, or are you going to the Host Club now?" She lifted a finger to motion his first suggestion while recovering from his words moments ago, and they began to walk. "Hey, I didn't mean to upset you, but… at least I get the idea and know to keep my distance."

Haruhi stopped to look at him; this male did not want to harm her in any way. It made her… happy.

As they walked together side by side down the hallways, she could her everyone whispering about how close she was towards another person, and that the person was the scariest student in school. It made her wonder why everyone was so scared of this young man—had he done something to be that scary in their point of view? This caused her to stop accidentally to think about it; if Kasanoda Ritsu scared everyone away, that means other male students would stay away from him. The thought of using a person like that made her unhappy about her thinking, and wished she could take back her thoughts.

"Hey, there's no reason for you to worry. No one is going to bother you with me next to you." It was as if he was reading her mind. "I don't know why you're scared of them, but their scared of me, so you can feel more at ease—and I won't do _anything_ to you." He proved it by keeping his attention away from her.

If there was one thing Haruhi could still faintly do, it was sensing if others genuinely wanted to help her, and Kaoru helped her world expand just a small fraction. The Host Club scared her though; all of those males at one time? Poor girl barely adjusted to Kaoru on the first day of school, then she was suddenly forced to deal with both Kaoru and his brother Hikaru? She did adjust after a while, though the main thing that she remembered was that, not everyone was somebody that was out to get her. Once they left the double doors that led towards the pick-up lot for students, she pointed to the limousine waited for her as she then noticed the large group behind her.

Ritsu felt her become nervous for the moment, leading him to turn towards everyone with an icy glare.

All of the students fled the scene in an instant, and she smiled happily to him.

"You know… um… I could… hang with you, at school. I-If you want that is…" he blushed nervously. "I-I mean, others would leave you alone if you did… but… you probably need to get used to me since I'm kind of scary looking." The chauffeur opened the door and Ritsu set the things inside for her. "E-Er, never mind what I said—I'm just being stupid and—" as he was trying to escape, she grabbed his sleeve lightly before nodding her head softly. "You want to… hang out with me?" Again, Haruhi nodded. "Uh… o-okay, um…" Ritsu pulled out his phone and placed it on new contacts before giving it to her. "You can text me when you want to… chat… n-not verbally… but… uh…" she took the phone and gave him her information, and then she brought her phone out for him to do it too. "Morinozuka-aniki won't kick my ass though, right?"

Haruhi lightly smiled when retrieving her phone back and showing him in a text.

_Nii-sama pays more attention to Mitsukuni, but—_

"Get away from my brother!" A loud voice called, scaring the daylights out of Ritsu who turned to see a middle school student—Morinozuka Satoshi, who was running over to protect her. "What do you want?!"

"I-I-I-I-I—I, well s-s-s-she—I mean—" Ritsu was about to have a heart attack.

Haruhi silently sighed before yanking her little brother's ear for being rude, then placed a finger to her lips in hopes of him settling down. She did not realize however, that he glimpsed at what was typed on her cell phone, though he said nothing about this to her for good reasons. Her hand soon released his ear before rustling his head to let him know that everything was okay, then offered her hand to Ritsu.

He knew she wanted to shake hands, but she was slightly trembling. "Morinozuka, don't take it the wrong way but," Ritsu slightly bowed to her instead of shaking hands. "You need more time to get used to me."

This had made her both smile and nod her head in turn before heading into the limousine.

When the vehicle was gone, Satoshi glanced toward the high school male student.

"Haruhi seems to trust you for some reason… but if you break that trust, we'll come after you." He had no time to deal with him after reading the text on her phone. There were many things going through his head, and so he had to sort things out in his mind before going home where he would see both of his siblings. "Since its obvious you know about her gender, if you do _anything_ inappropriate, I'll _**kill**_ you." He then left.

Ritsu stared in disbelief of being told off by someone younger than him.

Things were going to be interesting.

* * *

Thought it would be funny; having Satoshi threatening Ritsu and everything. I always love having Ritsu in my stories, even if it will be MoriHaru. However, I am getting SO TIRED of having a mute Haruhi! Oh, by the way, Haruhi's in the last part is because Kaoru tried working with her during the days that she was in the hospital while Hikaru went to grab food or something.


	4. Chapter 04

**Dark Inu Fan: **Haha, that makes me like Ritsu all the more.

Sorry it's been a long time since I've updated, but I started about 20 million new stories. But this chapter should make everyone happy!

**

* * *

Chapter 04**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

"Hey, I can't fine Haru-nee anywhere!" Satoshi alarmed the family in the dining room that was eating their breakfast. "She's not in her bedroom, and she isn't responding to my text messages! We should call—"

"Calm down," his father demanded sternly. "Haruhi is out with a friend of hers, they were going to the mall from what I understood. I allowed her because she is taking all safety precautions about leaving today."  
This allowed him to settle down a little bit, but became confused as so who she would possible go to the mall with since she did not really have any friends yet, other than Kaoru. "So… who did she go with?"

"He called himself Kasanoda Ritsu." Akira stated, and everyone turned to Takashi who had choked.

_He_? Did their father say _he_? Their father actually allowed Haruhi to go with a male that was not family? If it was Hitachiin Kaoru, _maybe_ Takashi would be okay with it, but who is this Kasanoda Ritsu person!

"Oh… that guy," Satoshi sighed in annoyance as he crossed his arms. "It would figure it was him."

For the past week, Ritsu would be with Haruhi during all break times to the dismay of the youngest Morinozuka at the Academy. However, Satoshi watched from the distance that he easily kept _everyone_ away from her, and kept a respective distance from her as well. With Haruhi being happy around another male forced her little brother to take a step back from being aggressive with him, and spend his time more on her at home. Now knowing that she was feeling neglected due to the Morinozuka bond with their short cousins of the Haninozuka family, he wanted to change this. Unfortunately, he could not directly tell this to their older brother because it was not his place to interfere—it was not the Morinozuka way.

Takashi turned to the sibling. "Who is Kasanoda Ritsu?"

He shrugged in turn. "Some guy that helped Haru-nee with her books, I don't know the details. But they've been hanging around each other a lot this past week during school. Haven't you heard the gossip yet?"  
Even though Haruhi his main concern at school, and everywhere else, she had been avoiding him. "No, I haven't, what type of gossip of her is there?" If it was something bad, he would end the problem quickly.  
"Some are saying that Haru-nee is stuck up, some say she's trying to adjust to guys, and some are saying something about her using him as some kind of body guard?" He thought about it. "That, and she's gay."

If they thought that she was a homosexual, then more guys may come towards her to figure out if it was true or not, and he would have to make sure that it does not happen. Whenever she comes home tonight, he would have to explain to her that being around this person was not safe for her, and yet she was willing to go around with this stranger? Not realizing that he inhaled the rest of his food in seconds, Takashi decided to excuse himself from the dining table so that he could warn the others.

"I think Haru-nee is depressed." Satoshi whispered to his parents after Takashi left, but not knowing that he overheard him speaking. Takashi leaned against the wall to listen. "I found out, so I have to be quiet."  
"So you found out by sneaking around did you?" His father scorned. "You do well to not speak of it then."  
"I know, but to think that is family that is causing her this conflict, I want to help." He sighed and bowed to his parents. "I have homework to do so that I can pay attention to Haru-nee when she comes home!"

Takashi knew that Haruhi would have to tell him what was wrong, but now he was a little bit curious.

* * *

"So, you really like strawberries, huh?" The redhead asked quietly, watching her quietly lick a cone of some strawberry ice cream. She paused to look at him, then faintly blushed as she turned away. It had been a long time since she was with someone that was not family. "N-No it's okay. It's… uh… cute?"

During the entire morning, he continued to say that everything she did was cute, and it was embarrassing for her to listen to since they had managed to become friends. He treated her to the theaters for starters, allowing her to sit at the edge so that she would not sit next to the other man, and the movie was nice. It did not take long for Ritsu to ask what to do next, and they ended up trailing around the mall to allow her the ability to adjust bumping into others—especially males. The idea itself sounded ridiculous and caused her to cling onto the redhead all the more, but the others would either turn and bow apologetic or ignore it.

To them, she was probably some ditsy girl.

To her, they were people, not murders, not rapists.

To Ritsu, she was probably something that made him laugh.

"Let's go over here to talk in private." He offered quietly, earning an uncertain look. "We'll be in everyone's sight, I just want to get some facts clear, if t-that's okay with you." Ritsu noticed how he was being a little too assertive with her, and so he became nervous. "B-But if you don't want to—I completely understand!"

Haruhi mentally laughed before dragging him over to the location that he suggested for him to talk to her; she did not mind it anymore. This person was too shy to harm her, and in addition, too innocent to even think of doing anything indecent to her in any manner no less. Ritsu finished his ice cream around the same time that she had finished hers, so he had to approach this very, _very_ carefully now.

"You were… adopted, into the Morinozuka family, weren't you?" His eyes caught glimpse of a sudden fear in her expression. "Everything about you indicates no trace of Morinozuka, and when I raised my phone to text you on the day we met, I realize you placed your name as Fujioka Haruhi—" This sent her into immediately panic mode as she tried to flee once he said this, and he accidentally grabbed her wrist to keep her there. "It's okay!" Yelling in the manner he did, did not help as she tried to jerk away from him. "I'm not going to tell anyone, I was just asking—Morinozuka! Calm down!" Calling her by this title caused her to slump down to the tile floor. Thank God they were in a secluded area with almost no people there.

With her sitting on the ground almost motionlessly, he squatted to her level so he would not intimidate her anymore. "I was a little curious about your name when I saw it, and I looked it up, only to find out more than what I ever wanted to know." Indeed, when you are in the line of the rich folk, your story could be an open book to the paparazzi and sneaky news articles. "Had I known I would learn this, I wouldn't have bothered reading it, and probably would have waited to know this from you." She kept her eyes to the floor to ignore him—but it was not helping. "None of that matters to me, that's all in the past, alright?"

"How touching," a man called out, earning the two teenager's attention. "Hey girly, remember me?"  
Haruhi stood up simultaneously with Ritsu, and quickly shoved him to get out of the area fast.  
The redhead looked at her with astonishment for being pushed away. "What was that for?"  
"Ah, so you remember what happens to those around you, huh girly?" The man teased.

_The young girl, Fujioka Haruhi was raped four times. Two, in which, there was a murder involved—both happening to be her parents. Could it be that the reason no one was killed in the last two because there was no one with her, this question remains till this day since the victim has fallen mute. Who's to say—it is quite possible that this young girl knows to stay clear when there's trouble, otherwise feel guilty about it._

This replayed in Ritsu's mind from what pieces of information he had read about her, causing him to get back into the commotion by standing in front of her. She tried to shove him out of the way despite how much smaller she was and that she did not want to harm him in the slightest, but failed miserably. All he had to do was shift her to stand directly behind him as he got into position to fight this man, who suddenly pulled out a gun. Dozens of men sudden appeared from nowhere—charging at the armed man who then shot at the redhead; it went straight through his arm and grazed Haruhi's shoulder as well.

The latter of the now two gun-wounded victims caught the former as he fell backwards with blood quickly leaving through the hole. He explained that the men were his followers, and that she would be safe with them, but all she did was slap him in the face before putting pressure on his wound. A light sunny blond-haired man came over to check on them, only to rip his left sleeve off to wrap tightly around Ritsu's arm as she continued to apply pressure. He ripped his other sleeve off and carefully motioned that he was going to do the same for her, which she allowed without noticing. There was one thing that came to her mind though as she stared at her wrist; the watch that she was given last week, one button for family…

The other for the hospital.

* * *

His cell phone beeped rapidly, so the giant pulled it out of his pocket to see what the alarm was: Haruhi had called for the police and ambulance? Most of the phones in the family were alerted when Haruhi would go to the hospital, and so—most likely—many family members would be heading there right now. Takashi was going to kill that Kasanoda Ritsu for hurting her so long as his little cousin does not beat him to the job by getting to the hospital first. Satoshi was already running towards the entrance in order to dive into the limousine waiting outside as his older brother was not too far behind. Even their calm father, Morinozuka Akira, quickly entered the limousine while demanded the chauffeur not to waste a moment. Their mother was too busy at the moment and probably did not have her cell phone on in order to be warned about this sudden emergency, but that was fine, Haruhi would only get upset. Once they enter the hospital room to see a wounded Morinozuka Haruhi, she was going to motion how everything was fine.

It turned out that the Haninozuka family was already there, demanding for information on Haruhi.

Haninozuka Yorihisa slammed his fist furiously against the counter of a difficult nurse in his way.

"Listen here, that girl is obviously seriously wounded! We are her family members! Give us the all of the information about what happened!" His eyes caught glimpse at the Morinozuka family. "There, there is her father and brothers! Now tell us what has happened to her, or so help me, you will all lose your jobs!"

"I'm sorry sir, but we are bound by doctor-patient confidentiality. She is in room 305-B though." The nurse replied patiently, and watched the group of six turn on their heels go in search. "It's down this hall here."

The group tore down the hallway until they found the room, so they opened it—only to find the redhead.

"**Where is Haru-chan**?" Mitsukuni asked him dangerously. "And** who **are_** you**_?"  
"Ah, he's Kasanoda Ritsu, Haru-nee has been with him this week." Satoshi explained easily.  
Takashi grabbed the redhead's collar though. "How dare you harm Haruhi you sorry piece of t—"

A water bottle clocked him over the head, infuriating him even more as he turned to see who did this, only to see that it was the female he and the others were so worried about. Haruhi was still glaring at him with unpleasant looks as she picked up the water bottle before handing the other to her friend on the hospital bed who then thanked her. Mitsukuni was about to jump and cling on to her happily while announcing how worried they all were, but he too received the viscous glare from her—they _all_ did. This made the tired redhead sit up slowly to lean against the bed while frowning unhappily at his angry female friend.

"Morinozuka, it's okay. They were worried about what had happened to you, that's all." Ritsu tried to help her family, and he looked at them as she sat at his side. "A guy came up to us, and had a gun in hand. He shot me, but it went right through and grazed her arm. The doctor said that her skin is slightly bruised."

"Haruhi," Akira started quietly. "Was it one of the men?" She nodded weakly. "I see, I'm glad you're safe."  
"She would have been safe if she had stayed home." Takashi stated sternly. "What were you thinking?"  
Haruhi did not bother looking at him as she opened her water bottle to have a few needed sips of it.  
"Taka-nii, Haru-nee's has had a difficult day as it is. Stop pressuring her!" Satoshi came to her side.  
Yasuchika joined the motion. "Honestly, you should be happy that she at least _used_ the watch finally."

Could they not see how worked up they were when knowing that she was here, yet knowing that she was only grazed by a bullet is supposed to make everything all alright suddenly because Haruhi motioned this? It was practically unacceptable to let this go when this thug had placed his little sister in danger, she could have been raped and killed. Sensing the threatening aura, Haruhi scowled at him for knowing what he was thinking—until a man entered the room, it was that Sendo Tetsuya character.

"There are way too many of us in this room, can you please let the two rest a little bit." Tetsuya then went passed them and gave the two a bowl of teriyaki chicken. "Any questions of today can go through me."  
Takashi was aware that this man was older, but not superior. "Who do you think you're talking to?"  
Haruhi gently nudged her younger brother and cousin towards the group, motioning them to leave.  
"Are you sure you want us to leave the room?" Satoshi would listen to her if this were what she wanted.  
Yasuchika was also concerned, and thought of something. "Is this man one of _them_?" The entire family tensed and glared at Tetsuya, but she shook her head softly. "We'll wait outside until you're ready."

She nodded to him, and the group left, except Takashi who did not want to leave her alone.

Though, he could feel her glare upon him, and so he had to leave or else he would be in trouble.

He bowed his head slightly to understand her demands before turning his back and leaving the room.

Ritsu looked at the girl at his side once Takashi was gone. "I'm sure he was just worried about you."  
"You two can stay in here, I'll go explain what happened to the two family." Tetsuya quickly left.  
Haruhi silently sighed as she quietly ate her food in hand as Ritsu had his on the bed tray, she laughed.

The redhead looked at her helplessly. "You're really going to laugh at me after that?" She nodded with a sheepish smile. "The man that shot us, he was one of them, right?" Again, she nodded, but her smiled had vanished when hearing this. "Can I ask you a personal question, Fujioka?" He wanted to know how it would sound like when rolling off his tongue, and again, she nodded. "Is the reason you stopped talking to others because you think it's safer for you and others?" Haruhi gave no reaction. "Maybe after all those incidents, fighting back seemed useless, and lost your reason to fight back with words. Then after a long period of time, you adjusted to it this way of living, leaving yourself stay prisoner into your own body."

Without realizing it at first, Haruhi began cry with a muffled raspy sound.

"A-A-Ah wait, d-d-don't cry! I-I'm sorry! Forget my theory, I-I-I know it was stupid—!" Ritsu shortly noticed that she was verbally making noise from her throat; trying to emit some sort of verbal reaction to his words. "A-Are you trying to—" he stopped himself before he got ahead of himself, so he shifted the tray away to sit up in front of her in order to apologize. "I-I'm really sorry, Fujioka—Morinozuka, I didn't m—"

Haruhi had managed to catch him off guard by clinging to the redhead as she cried with muffled tones due to slowly breaking out of her silent fight. Ritsu was blushing crazily because she was between his legs, hugging his waist, and all he could do was softly caress the top of her head. Takashi watched this through the small window on the door; watching her cry against him as he patted her head like some pet.

All of his years of training has come down to this very moment to restrain himself from separating them.

It was decided in his mind that this person stealing Haruhi's attention, was forever his enemy.

"Takashi," Akira called patiently. "We are leaving, Haruhi will let us know when she wants to come home." He watched as his son did not budge an inch. "_Takashi_." His son looked at him. "It is time for us to go."  
"I will not leave her here to be with some… yakuza kid." Though their age were not that different, Takashi was getting very defensive about his position without knowing it. "I will stay here and wait for her."  
"Okay! Everyone heard Taka-nii! Let's get going before Haru-nee decides to kick our butts! Or forces us all to eat scary food!" Satoshi ran off, and the others followed hurriedly once knowing her nutrition guide.

When she was mad, Haruhi tended to cook, and she would make things they did not favor.

Satoshi almost died from eating leeks one night.

Everyone but Takashi left the hospital and returned to their estates after knowing that Haruhi was all right, causing the giant to sit down on the ground to wait for her. He had a lot to think about now that it was obvious that he was losing his position as her safety net after all these years of knowing her; he knew everything. Perhaps, that was the reason why she was pushing away—no, she had been upset ever since he scolded her for not using her watch. Takashi had always known that she never wanted to cause trouble for anyone, especially for those who would look after her all of the time. It was not his fault that he had snapped for the first time at her because he was worried that she would be raped for the fifth time…

Morinozuka Takashi, would kill himself if that were to happen.

* * *

Hours had passed as Haruhi stayed in the room with Ritsu, until she knew that it was time to head home once it became sunset. After giving her new best friend a hug with him staying completely still to insure her that she would be okay, she head out of the room. Only to stare at a giant sitting with knees lazily raised in the air while his back lean against the wall and his head against his shoulder, sleeping tiredly. She had assumed that her older brother would have either returned to the estate or quite possible be with Mitsukuni somewhere to probably eat cake. Knowing that she was being as hard on him as he had been on her, she quietly came over to squat in front of him, now softly shaking his knee to wake him.

"Nh…" Haruhi tried to call him by title, but could not form words. "Nh…"

Takashi stirred at the movement against him and looked around to see his little sister in front of him to wake him up, something she rarely ever did. He then looked around a little more beyond her to realize that they were still at the hospital while it was getting dark outside, they were going to get in trouble. His attention went to her wounded arm—though it was only a graze, and figured that she was ready to leave.

"Do you want to go home now?" The giant asked as he stretched on the spot.

Haruhi smiled lightly, and verbally replied. "M-hmm…"

"Hn… I'll call for—" he paused for the moment, and looked at her. "What?"'

"Hn…" her resistance of grinning failed miserably.

Without even thinking of her fear of male contact, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest to hug her closely. It had been so long since she even hinted of trying to speak with words, and all he wanted to do was praise her endlessly for her success. Despite how her voice sounded hoarse from not speaking for so long, and she was not exactly saying any type of words, he would accept it gratefully. One way or the other, they had to celebrate the fantastic developments that she had been going through during the few weeks she had attended Ouran Academy. Who knew that all it would take was just a few people for her to adjust to, but then a thought had suddenly came to him as he pulled her away softly.

"Did he help you?" Takashi meant the student in the hospital room and she nodded. "…I see."

Though he still hated the thought of that person being near her, he would thank him, mentally.

"Let's go home." The giant picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the room.


	5. Chapter 05

**Chapter 05**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

"Takashi," a voice called above him, it was a female voice, but obviously not a maid. "Rise and shine."

His eyelids fluttered open to see a body crouched over his, though it took his eyes a moment to adjust towards the lighting. He stared up at the person to see that it was Haruhi, smiling happily before leaning down to kiss him on the cheek as he could only stare at her. That was her voice that called out to him, so he would be damned if he disobeyed by staying in bed, and he sat up to kiss her back in turn. Takashi—

His eyelids fluttered open immediately, forcing his sight to adjust in order to realize that he was alone in his bedroom, what an awkward dream that was. The giant got up from his bed and walked down the hall a little bit to knock softly on a door before quietly opening it to see the bed empty. For the past month since the second man was caught and thrown in prison with his other friend, Haruhi had been waking up earlier to leave for school. She spent more time with that yakuza freshman than anyone else, but he had to tolerate this because of the fact that he helped her gain her voice. Her vocal responses, unfortunately, were very limited to grunts and hums, but she stopped after that one day at the hospital for some reason.

The Morinozuka and Haninozuka families heard her weak vocal replies that day, and only that day.

However, she was much livelier than before, and for that, they were thankful.

They owed their gratitude to redhead no matter what.

Her family—adoptive family, had always treated her like a precious jewel for years, but she was stubborn when it came to being adored. She was like a jewel that was placed on display by a wealthy family, and only said family could touch this jewel to clean while lookers could only view. Hitachiin Kaoru had broken the display that protected the jewel that the family loved dearly, and Kasanoda Ritsu had stolen the jewel away from the family. The jewel's beauty and care was something that needed to be protected after all of the abuse is had gone through, yet you never think to hold it and point it to the sun. It glows and shines when held just right, allowing everyone in sight to realize what exactly was in their possession.

_Taken_

Takashi shuttered at the thought, and sent a text to Haruhi, asking if she was at school yet.

As he suspected, she was already at school with her new best friend.

_'She mentioned that she wanted to participate in the Host Club though.'_

* * *

"Today is the day you were going to ask to join the Host Club, huh?" The redhead watched as she gave a soft nod, causing him to grin in return. "Oh, that's right, we're at school already, you and your secrets." She smiled in return as they went to the cafeteria to have a decent meal for breakfast since they left early.

Students would purposely come early to see these two be together, everyone at the academy knew that Morinozuka Haruhi was a mute, and that Kasanoda Ritsu was a gangster. It was obvious that none of her siblings or cousins were thrilled about her being near the redheaded punk, but they had to allow them to be together for some reason. She was closer to the Hitachiin twins as well, although she was a little nervous with Hikaru and his harsh pranks, Kaoru defended her from them when he could.

"Haruhi-kun!" A blond-haired male cheered, causing her to jump in her seat. "O-Oh, um… sorry…."  
Haruhi looked at him before turning away and nodding weakling to forgive him for startling her like that.  
The redhead looked at the two. "Morinozuka here would like to know if he could participate in the Host Club. Something about you saying he could do the trivial chores or something?" They looked at him.  
This caused the idiot to beam happily, "of course! We would be more than happily to have you join us!"  
Something then came to mind for Haruhi and she looked up at Tamaki as if to ask something from him.

Ritsu pointed towards her while Tamaki looked at him. "Morinozuka wants something from you."

"Hmm?" The Host King looked at her curiously, and she patted the table with her fingers as if she were playing the piano. He jumped in excitement. "Oh I love this game! Um, um, piano!" Haruhi rolled her eyes at his thrilled nature, and pointed to him. "Me?" She nodded. "Piano, me… me play piano—you want me to play the piano?" Again, she nodded, and he cheered in victory while they finished their meal. "When?"

Haruhi turned to Ritsu apologetically, and the redhead smiled. "We can go to the music room now."  
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," another called as he joined the group silently. "My men are preparing the room for today's session." He smiled slyly at them. "Perhaps afterwards, hmm? It should be okay then."  
She shivered at the shadowy character; it reminded her too much of those days in her past.  
"Haruhi-kun, I would like a moment to speak with you alone if you don't mind." The Shadow King chimed happily. "If you are going to participate with the Host Club, we should have some facts straightened out."  
Ritsu saw how she was unhappy about the new male, "Morinozuka doesn't want to talk."

"Hence being a mute." Ohtori Kyouya replied quickly, and sharply.  
"Hey, there's no need to scare Haruhi!" A twin called defensively.  
He smiled at him. "If _he_ doesn't, I'll tell everyone _his_ secret."  
Haruhi's brows knitted together, not liking this person.

"Tamaki, did you hear of the raped victim last night in Germany?" Kyouya turned to his friend. "My father decided to visit the family since the family—" before he could say another word, Haruhi kicked him…

Between the legs…

"M-Morinozuka," Ritsu stuttered, hoping that she did not need to resort to violence.  
"What happened?" A deep monotone voice called; just arriving at the scene to see this.  
Since he was not across the table as Ritsu was, Haruhi came over to cling to the giant.  
"Ohtori said some choice words to get under his skin." Ritsu explained unhappily.

"Kyouya didn't do anything to deserve that! He was just telling me about some German rape v—" Just as he was about to finish his sentence, he saw the brown-haired freshman flinch. "…German?" Nothing happened. "…r—" Out of nowhere, Mitsukuni jumped in to divert their attention from her. "Honey-senpai?"

"Let's have cake for breakfast!" The small one cheered.  
Ritsu on the other hand, stood up from his seat. "If you don't mind, I should get things ready for class. Morinozuka, would you like to come with me?" He just wanted to get her away from these people.  
Though Takashi did not like him, he agreed. "Go on."  
Once the two began to head out, Kaoru knew the truth. "Oops!" He grabbed everyone's attention in the Host Club. "I must have dropped my wallet somewhere, I better go look for it, I'll be right back everyone!"  
"Hey Kaoru w—" Hikaru frowned at the vanished twin.

It only took a few seconds to catch up to the couple in the hallway, and they turned to look at him with curious expressions for why he chased them. Kaoru took a moment to take a few breaths since he dashed after them as quickly as he could in order to talk to her, but to get of the redhead. He tried to think of a way to have him leave the two of them alone, especially when he wanted to confirm his suspicions.

"Can you excuse us for a moment? I want to ask Haruhi a private question." The twin smiled weakly.  
Ritsu looked to Haruhi to see what she wanted, and shook her head. "I know Morinozuka, I can answer."  
Kaoru looked at her in hopes that she would reconsider. "What Kyouya-senpai said, it was to get to you?"  
Haruhi quickly looked away, knowing where this was going to lead to, causing her to lean against Ritsu.  
"You weren't _just_ abused before coming here, were you?" That was all it took to have tears appear.  
"Morinozuka has had a difficult past, that's all you need to know." The redhead became defensive.

"I am…" Haruhi started quietly, "a victim…" she looked at Kaoru, who was stunned to see her talking. "I was… raped… several times…" Ritsu wrapped an arm around her. "I know… I am… safe now…"  
The twin frowned at her, "I'm sorry Haruhi, if I had known, I would have kept my distance even more."  
Ritsu knew that Kaoru was aware of her gender. "She's been learning to be around other guys."  
He looked at him in surprise to hear him say 'she,' and knew that he knew everything. "But you can talk."  
"Casanova-kun has helped me…" Her attention went towards Kaoru. "Thank you… for helping me…"

"Y-Y-YOU'RE A GIRL?" A voice called from behind.

The three turned to see the Host King behind them, who looked as if he was about to have a heart attack.

Haruhi backed up with slight fear in her eyes, causing the two male students to keep her out of the idiot's sight despite the fact that he was still in shock. Unfortunately, he was loud enough for the rest of the Host Club to hear, and they all came into the hallway—other than Kyouya who was taken to the infirmary. It took a couple of seconds for Tamaki to snap back into reality by pointing at Haruhi with a shaky hand.

"Y-You can't be a member of the Host Club! W-Why are you even wearing boy's clothing? I—" Tamaki was interrupted by the giant shoving him against the wall, and he gaped for air desperately. "M-Mori-s—"

A hand landed on the giant's sleeve. "Nii-sama," she paused, hoping for her speech to sound operative without hesitation. "Let him go." Takashi looked at her with confusion. "He is… your friend, right?"  
"Haru-chan…" Mitsukuni stared at her, then leaped at her happily. "You can finally speak again!"  
"Thanks to Casanova-kun, and Kaoru," she replied, and looked to Takashi, "please, Nii-sama?"  
Takashi slowly realized what he was doing, and released him. "You can talk now?"

"I've been helping her every day, but her sentences are still short. She wanted to wait until she could speak without pauses or breaks in between, so you could be proud of her." Ritsu knew that he had said too much for her, but it was the truth no matter how angry she was at him. "Of course… my main goal is to actually hear her laugh. That one is still the hardest thing that I'm working on with her." He chuckled.

Her cheeks reddened lightly.

Takashi frowned at the explanation, "Haruhi," he called while walking up to her. "I am always proud."  
"But she never hears you say that, that's why she thinks that…" Kaoru stopped talking, knowing better.  
"A Morinozuka… takes care of a Haninozuka… at all times." Haruhi explained quietly in cute mumbles.  
Mitsukuni frowned. "The Haninozuka family is only concerned with your care Haru-chan, we're worried."

Hikaru looked at everyone in annoyance. "Can someone explain what's going on?"

They all looked at him.

* * *

"Haruhi is actually my sister," Takashi stated hours after school before the Host Club would entertain their guests. He was not lying, she was his sister, but they did not need to know she was adopted. "There have been several encounters with the wrong people, causing her to be scarred for quite some time now."

"The last incident that she encountered made her traumatized until now. Many things have happened since then, and only now was she forced to Ouran Academy so she could get used to the male students." Mitsukuni stated as he hugged his stuffed animal carefully while thinking faintly about the horrid past. "We've been protecting her all this time from becoming more frightened of others. Then Takashi had screwed up and told Kao-chan that Haru-chan was a girl. After that, she started to get better, but if you—"

"Mitsukuni," Haruhi called out, walking in from another room once his voice became stern. "Stop it."

"Well… it _does_ explain things." Hikaru then turned to look at his twin. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."  
"I did not want… him to say anything…" She looked at him apologetically. "I am still… not used to… it."  
His cheeks reddened, now knowing her gender. "N-No, don't worry about it… Um…" He turned away.

"You poor child! How can such things happen to you when you are a Morinozuka! Mori-senpai should have been there to fight off all the bad people!" Tamaki acted as if it was a fairytale, and the others watched her shutter at them. "Be that as it may, you need to apologize to Kyouya for kicking him in the—"

"No." Haruhi replied sharply, startling all of them. "I… don't like… Ohtori-senpai." Her eyes closed tightly.

"Tono has a point," Kaoru spoke casually as he now looked towards Takashi suspiciously. "Where _were_ you during these encounters?" He knew the 'encounters' now meant rape. "Were you with Hani-senpai?"  
"Kaoru…" Haruhi knew what he was trying to get at, but she did not want Takashi to know about this.  
Takashi on the other hand, frowned as he looked to the floor. "We were all training when it would usually happened. When Haruhi was going home without us, we would train a little longer. And I would find her."

"So Haruhi was right, Hani-senpai _is_ more important to you if she was raped multiple t—" Kaoru then closed his mouth, realizing that he had accidentally said too much, and broke her trust in that second.

They all looked at her, and she fled their sight.

"H-Haruhi—" The twin was grabbed harshly around the collar of his shirt by the now furious giant senior.  
However, Takashi knew that he should not attack a friend, but right now he wanted to hit him so badly.  
"Stop it," Mitsukuni demanded sternly. "Our concern should be finding her before something happens."

All of a sudden, they heard her yelling at someone to let her go, causing the group to investigate the hallway—only to see that she was nowhere in sight. That is, however, until they saw someone flying through a door into the hallway on their rear end in the most painful way possible… it was Kyouya. What most did not know about her was that her fear can turn aggressive sometimes when with older males.

"Haruhi!" Takashi barked at her attitude towards the Shadow King.

Without even looking at him, she turned on her heels to run in the opposite direction as quickly as she possible could to stay far away from him and the others. Causing the tall giant to stupidly chase after her, which might cause more damage than anything else that he could possibly do at the moment while she was terrified. The rest of the Host Club, other than Mitsukuni, attended to the Shadow King that was getting up mighty slow—mentioning how he would get her for this. Mitsukuni heard this clearly and was not too happy about what he had said, however, he was going to keep quiet about this for now.

* * *

The Host Club activities were closed for the time being; to re-convince Haruhi into joining the Host Club that she changed her mind about, and to have enough time for rumors of Kyouya not being able to bear children died down. For the entire day when the members found out that she was raped a few times, she had disappeared just as well that had her family go through a panic until receiving a phone call, Ritsu had called the main house to say that he found her in his room. However, from there the news went south—it turned out the fear of outsiders knowing about her, and Ohtori Kyouya's threats towards her, caused her to revert to being mute since she would not talk to him _at all_ anymore. All of that progress Takashi learned that she gained, all of that was washed away when the Host Club knew what happened to her, he did not understand anything at that moment in time last week when this happened.

Today made it seven days that Haruhi stayed away from the Morinozuka estate, which was far too long for Takashi—and the rest of the family to accept, which was why he came to visit after school was over. Ritsu had been expecting him for the longest time to show up; he had been taking the days off to spend with Haruhi so she would feel at ease about being around the rest of the men at the syndicate he lived in. Takashi wanted to give her as much space as he needed and could provide for her, but he was going to become insane if he did not know that she was okay, especially after learning that she felt a bit neglected. Never had he thought of it in that manner since she was always on his mind where more than Mitsukuni, had he known that she felt this way, maybe there was something that he could have done to change it.

He knocked on the door, and Ritsu opened it himself to see him. "Where is Haruhi?"  
"Now isn't a good time, but I'll take you to her." The redhead stepped aside.  
A loud crash echoed through the syndicate. "What, was that." If she was hurt…  
His hand came up to scratch the back of his head. "It's probably her fighting Tetsuya."

Fighting?

"She does not train in martial arts any longer." To hear that she was fighting, hah.  
"Well, I asked her something, and it was like she snapped out of it, and began participating."  
Takashi raised a brow to him, not exactly sure if this would be a good thing. "What did you say to her?"  
"Morinozuka was upset when I fought for her, so I asked her why not fight for us—her friends and family."

Suddenly, the sliding door in front of them was smashed in two with Tetsuya unconscious in the rubble of everything that broke. The two peeked inside cautiously to see a woman in a white martial arts robe in a position for challengers, but the rest of the men sitting on the side line were too terrified. Grayish-blue hues stared at this woman, lightly hopping on foot to foot in order to keep her blood flowing while waiting.

"Haruhi," he spoke out, causing her to flinch at his voice. "Did you do this?" Her head nodded weakly as her answer to his question. "Good job, but you should take it easy on others." In truth, Takashi dubbed her as physically week until now. "Are you enjoying your stay here?" Again, she nodded to him softly. "Does that mean you're not ready to come home? Everyone is worried about you, especially myself."

Her brown hues turned to Ritsu who shrugged. "If you want to go home, it's okay, do what you want."

Haruhi came over to the redhead and gave him a hug even though he did not return the favor as a way to make sure he would not startle her. He told her to go grab what things she wanted to take home with her since he wanted a few minutes alone with Takashi to talk about something. The giant was not thrilled about this, but he bowed his head to have her do as told before everyone left the large dojo for them.

"I think an officer may have been involved." Ritsu whispered. "We walked to a park, and she froze up when seeing a man in an outfit. I asked if he was one of them, but kept on walking. As we turned a corner she saw another officer—a woman this time, and was just a terrified." He waited for Takashi to process everything, and then decided to ask something. "The wound on her back, they did it to her?"

How did _he_ find out about that?

The very thought of this man looking at her body enough to even know about that mark on her sent him into a fit of blind rage. He grabbed him by the hem of the robe and shoved him against the wall furiously so that he could finally give into his desires by punching him. A hand grabbed his fist and as he turned to look, he was kicked in the face with enough power to throw him back against the opposite wall six feet away. Takashi looked over to see who dared to kick him… only to receive a scowl from his little adoptive sister, causing him to retreat the anger and accept it.

"Stop… it… now." Haruhi cringed; it hurt to talk even after a week.  
Takashi got up slowly, looking at her. "Did he do anything to you?"  
"Would I… be here… if he did?" The question was logical enough  
This made him feel guilty now. "Let's go then, Satoshi's worried…"  
She turned to her friend apologetically. "Are you… okay? Did—"

"I'm fine, no damage here." Ritsu smiled. "Go see your family."

Her head nodded before turning and leaving with Takashi behind her.

Ritsu escorted the two with some distance, taking them to their vehicle and watching them enter the car, waving as they left. This finally gave Takashi the somewhat alone time with his adoptive little sister, and possibly be able to get the answers to his questions. First though, he figured he should praise her, she tried—no, she was forced to speak, to protect her friend from his anger.

"I'm happy you're speaking again," he complimented, though she did not look at him. "You're fighting too."  
"I…" she paused, seeing a girl with two parents, "don't want…" it hurt to see this, "to talk… to you…"  
This hurt him to hear this, but she _was_ talking. "Are you mad at me?" Something he always asked.  
"Yes," Haruhi whispered, then looked at him, "but…" she cleared her throat. "Not for the past."  
"Haruhi—" she interrupted him by placing a hand up, wanting to keep the silence.

After the small drive to get to the estate, the two were allowed inside the house once the servants opened the doors for them. Satoshi came barreling down the stairs when he heard the servants greeting the two, and immediately ran to Haruhi as their father patiently walked down the stairs. The boy stopped in front of the adoptive sibling, teary eyed and both happy and sad, but he clung to her once she opened her arms. Akira joined the group despite not participating in the hug as he elder son was not, but it was nice to see a smile on everyone's faces for once.

"Haru-nee! Don't ever do that to us again!" Satoshi whined, nuzzling into her. "We were so worried!"  
"Sorry, Sato-nii," she replied softly before turning her gaze to her adoptive father. "I'm home… otousama."  
Satoshi looked at her in surprise, wondering if he heard her say something to them. "What did you say?"  
Her lips curved into a smile as she rustled the boy's hair softly with a frail hand. "I'm sorry… Sato-nii."  
"You can talk now!" Let's go on a trip! Let's go to Germany—no, no, Italy! We have to celebrate this!"  
"Satoshi," Akira called. "Let her rest, I'm sure Haruhi is exhausted and would like to sleep in her bed."

She nodded in response; she was exhausted from training with Ritsu and Tetsuya. Satoshi smiled to her in hopes of looking cute and cuddly. "Can I take a nap in your room too? You know, to give you some company? I haven't seen you for a week!" Once more, she nodded in response and held hands to leave.

When the two were gone, Akira turned to the eldest. "What troubles you?"  
"Kasanoda Ritsu," he answered firmly, not really wanting to talk about it.  
"The boy is her friend," his father stated easily. "Leave him alone for her."  
Takashi turned to him. "He knows about the _mark_." He then turned away.

Not even Satoshi knew about it, but Akira changed the subject.

"We'll worry about that later, there are other troubling things to deal with."


	6. Chapter 06

**Chapter 06**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

Oh how Takashi hated these two months; Haruhi had been spending _way_ too much time with that punk named Kasanoda Ritsu. Every time he went looking for her at lunch, she was with that redhead and a few girls with them to get to know her better. Kurakano Momoka was with them, smiling almost brighter than everyone else that was there, it seemed that the girls were adjusting to Ritsu, and Haruhi was adjusting to speaking. All of the girls were loving the cute little mumbles and small speeches, she could say an entire sentence in mumbles, and small words without it. After school—since Haruhi decided not to participate in the Host Club after what happened when they found out _everything_ about her all at once. In fact, every time she would see any of them, she would turn and run in the complete opposite direction from them.

Just like right now…

"Haruhi?" Kaoru's voice echoed in her ear.

It was a small break between the classes, and she was with Ritsu, though she _did_ turn away quickly in order to runaway. Ritsu grasped her hand a little tightly that caused her to look at him desperately to let go of her so that she could get away. He would not hear of it as he told her that she needed to confront this, and it might help if it was someone that she once trusted.

"I'm sorry…" The twin called out softly. "I didn't mean to say those things."  
She tried to jerk out of Ritsu's grasp, and he frowned. "Morinozuka…"  
"No…" she tried to get away from him. "Please… let go of me…"  
"You face to face everyone sooner or later." He reminded.  
"No!" Her brows knitted, yelling hurt her throat a lot.

"Mori—" Instantly, he was punched in the face.

"Let go," Takashi demanded, watching from the distance. Haruhi looked up at him. "Are you okay?"  
She began sobbing against his chest, clinging to him tightly for being scared. "Home… I—I—"  
"I'll take you to the estate," his hand came up and caressed her head. "After I deal with them."  
"N-No…" her voice sounded rasp. "Home…" She did not want them to start fighting because of her.

Ritsu rubbed his jaw. "Morinozuka, you know you'll have to face them. You two were good friends, right?"  
"It's okay if I'm not." Kaoru stated softly. "Haruhi changed all her—his classes, I never get to apologize."  
"Haruhi heard you out." Takashi carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. "Excuse us now if you will."  
"I didn't mean to say that stuff… it slipped out because there's usually no one with us when we talk—er…"  
The brunette-haired girl stopped her big brother to look around his arm to see the guilty twin. "You told…"  
Thank God, she was giving him a chance to talk. "I didn't mean to say anything. I am so sorry Haruhi."

"…give…" she paused, "…time…" Haruhi looked down. "…give me time…"

With that, Haruhi walked away with Takashi escorting her to the Infirmary first, that way she would have an excused absence for the rest of her classes. The school board understood her reasons and would always allow her to leave the school, especially she was from a very rich family. After they walked in and saw a man at a desk jotting things down—startling Haruhi, Takashi asked for him to bring a female nurse.

"Sorry, she has _taken_ the day off." He smiled, placing his glasses on. "How can I be of help?"  
"Haruhi as records of past trauma, and would like to go home." Takashi answered easily.  
"Yes, I've heard of this case." His hands clasped together. "A quick check and she can go."  
Her attention went to the giant senior. "Can you… go out… to call… Sato-nii? …I'll be fine."  
He raised a brow to her, but did not argue. "I'll be outside in the hall." As said, he walked out.

Once her _protector_ was out of sight, the male nurse came over to her, staring her down in the face though she did not look up at him. Yeah… she knew exactly whom this man was—just the thought about him made her skin crawl, her stomach churn, and her head hurt. His hand came to her chin and forced her to look up at him, but she kept her attention elsewhere no matter what he physically did to her. Everything was flooding through her memories as she recalled all of the horrible things that he and his friends did.

"Good little girl." The man smiled. "Now you're talking too, huh? Cute little voice you got. So what's this gossip I hear from all the pretty little girls that you're being close and cuddly with some boys, huh, Taken? You know it makes us jealous." He caressed her cheek gently. "We picked you because you were so cute when you were little and growing up. Our pedophile problems ended with you as you grew up to be an adorable little woman." His hand then went down her neck to her shoulder. "If you don't stop being so friendly toward that Kasanoda boy, me and the gang might have to do something about it."

"T-Take m—" Before she could finish her offer, he slapped her across the face. "Take me… leave him… alone." This angered the male, and he grabbed her by her head of hair. "Take me instead, Onishi Naoya."  
"Ah… little bitch, you've been researching, haven't you?" He threw her on the bed of the Infirmary Room.

It was a reason why she did not like Ohtori Kyouya, it sounded too similar to Onishi Naoya.

His hand grabbed one of her own and held it, just in time for Takashi to open the door without knocking in case he could catch the nurse doing something improper. By the look of this, it would appear that Haruhi was reaching out to a new figure in Takashi's eyes by shaking hands with the man. The giant told her that Satoshi wanted to join her on escorting her home, and that he himself would go to the classes to gather all of her work. Haruhi nodded quietly as the man released her hand, allowing her to go over to Takashi—about to grab his coat but decided against it. Of course that did not go unnoticed by her big brother, so he glanced at the man who smiled and claimed that she could leave while handing them a slip.

Takashi paused after grabbing the pink little paper. "What is your name?"  
"I'm a substitute nurse, Sudo Tomi." He waved. "This one should go home now."  
A sub, that made more sense as to why he was unfamiliar. "Haruhi, are you ready to go?"  
"Yes…" the door was opened for her by the sibling, and she began to walk out.  
The male nurse then called out in a sing-a-long voice. "Be careful now!"

Takashi looked at him for the moment, wondering why the man was so casually chipper… it was almost like he was attempting to tease her. That man claimed to be aware of the events and records of Haruhi's life, and seemed respective when he entered the room seeing the two. He still had a bad feeling about something that he could not place, but he shrugged it off when knowing he had to give Haruhi attention. Having the last two months away from his adoptive little sister due to her spending almost all of her time with the yakuza member, this was like a gift to him. His body then froze when he looked at her when they were down the hall away from the Infirmary, she was trembling for some reason. Not understanding if she was suddenly cold or completely terrified, he slowly brought a hand to her cheek to caress, and she tore away from him in fear. Grayish steel blue hues stared at her for the longest time after receiving such a violent reaction from her while wondering what got into her. All of their attention then went to a redhead who came running down the hallway to catch up to them while they were stopped near a corner.

"I'm… sorry… Mori…no…zuka…" Ritsu panted, trying to catch his breath. "I… wanted… to… apologize… before you… left…" he placed his hands on his knees, head fallen as he gasped for air. "I'm… sorry…" A quick swallow through his dry mouth before more panting. "I thought… having you… face your fears… would help… like last time… at the mall…" The redhead weakly looked up to her guiltily. "I'm… sorry…"

Haruhi frowned when knowing that he was doing his best to stay her friend despite trying to force her to do something that she was not ready to do. Her hand outstretched to him shakily, but as the door to the Infirmary Room opened, she withdrew her hand away before the man came out. She knew that she now had to break her ties with her very good friend or else she might lose him as she had lost her parents.

"I can't forgive… you." In truth, she really did forgive him, but in order to protect him…? Haruhi bowed to him apologetically. "S-Sorry…" her form came up from the bow. "We… can't be… friends… anymore."  
"What?" Ritsu stared at her in disbelief that she would say this to him. "I didn't mean to make you mad."  
"That's enough." Takashi did not want her to be any more conflicted for the day as he brought his arm out to guide her away from the other male without touching her form. "Haruhi has had her say in the matter."  
She felt like a sheep being herded from a clever wolf by a protective dog. "I'm sorry, Casanova-kun…"

That was all that she had to say to him now before walking away from the scene with Takashi following her so they could meet up with Satoshi. Ritsu was furious with himself for what he did to her, but felt a pair of eyes watching him, causing him to turn and see a male nurse walking away. Something did not feel right to him; after having to thinking about it, Haruhi would not have bowed to him when saying that they could not be friends anymore. His attention went towards the very distant siblings that then turned a corner in the long hallway before getting up and going to the Infirmary in hopes of finding clues. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—no blood or signs of a fight… maybe that senior brother of hers was in the room watching over the moment while she received her slip.

The door opened behind him, a woman entered in a white coat. "Oh, is everything okay?"  
"Uh, not really. Who was that male nurse a minute ago?" Ritsu asked curiously, nicely even.  
Her head tilted. "What male nurse? Yamato-sensei is on vacation. I went on a lunch break."  
That did not make any sense. "I _just_ saw a man in a white cloak like yours, leaving the room."  
"Well, I don't know what to say. I'm working alone in the Infirmary for the next two weeks."  
"Then who was that guy?" Accidentally he yelled at her, startling her. "Er… s-sorry."

"It's alright." The nurse shifted her glasses professionally. "Are you sure you're okay? Hallucinating any?"

Ritsu stared at her for the longest time, scowling; he had no time for a woman whom thought that he may be delusional about seeing that man. He knew that Haruhi was very forgiving over the past few months that they have spent together, so she would have at _least_ given him one more chance. The redhead tore out of the room and down the hall to look for the man as if thinking he would see him roaming around. His patience was thinning and led him to turn hot on his heels to go to the control room where the cameras—

Everything left his mind as he crashed into someone, causing him to look up to see Morinozuka Takashi.

"Morinozuka-aniki!" Ritsu jumped to his feet. "I need your help!"  
He stared at him without emotion, not bothering to reply to his stupidity.  
"That guy was no nurse! The nurse in the room said she's the only one here!"  
"The man said—" _That man said_, damn, that was why Haruhi had flinched at his touch.

"Look, I know you don't like me, and probably thrilled that Morinozuka practically spat in my face. But something isn't right!" To prove that he was dead serious, he grabbed the senior by his coat. "You want this nightmare of hers to end as much as I do, right! I bet he was one of those damn guys that had—"

Takashi slammed a fist against the freshman's face, throwing him into the ground.

"I will ask Haruhi, instead of searching behind her back." With that, Takashi walked over him, and began walking to his class. "Do what you want." Meaning, he wanted him to find out _for_ him anyway since, in truth, he was already keeping a very dark secret from her that she would never forgive him for—_**never**_.

Takashi froze instantly after walking up the stairs as something finally _did _catch his attention from having a quick flashback of what that male doctor had said while he was just about to leave the room to make a call. _A quick check and she can go._ All of her paperwork claimed that she was a male student with intentions of having everyone but the school board knowing the truth about her gender to keep her protected. _Be careful now!_ Takashi then growled at himself as he remembered that teasing tone of voice from that man, 'Sudo Tomi' —if that was really even his name; just thinking of how Haruhi would tend to react in order to keep her friends and family safe, he knew it was true.

That man was one of them.

Causing him to try to form the puzzle to this problem.

Haruhi allowed the man to touch her, her body was trembling like an abandoned little puppy before she backed away when being touched, and she took away her friendship with Kasanoda Ritsu. Fujioka—no, Morinozuka Haruhi was not supposed to let others worry about her since it was the Morinozuka way of life that she respected. She would do anything to keep her family and friends safe at the expense of her own life, which Takashi had experience firsthand when she tried to keep him away when she was—that was it.

If she did not separate herself from Kasanoda Ritsu, they would kill him.

That did not make entirely much sense though, why not just kill him rather than giving her an ultimatum like that? Why would they _talk_ to her instead of taking _advantage_ of her as they have the last four times they have had their chance? It was true that the man would not have enough time to get any fun with him just outside the room on the phone with their littler brother, but still. Did that mean that they were trying to plan another attack on his little sister—how did that man even get on the grounds of Ouran Academy?

Takashi had no choice but to talk to her tonight about this.

* * *

Only, seeing her smile happily and playing with their youngest sibling in a sparring game made it difficult for him to ask her about the man. They threw punches and kicks, everything was playfully thrown and blocked while they listened to some decent music that had no words. It was not going to be easy to confront her about the fact that he _knew _something was up between her and that male nurse, but to worry Satoshi would not help. Which was why he let them fool around for an hour before deciding to step in with her training, allowing their little brother to go take a needed shower.

"Haruhi, I would like to talk." He stated softly so he would not alarm her.  
Her fists came up to her face to protect herself from him. "Train."  
Gently, he threw a punch—and she tripped him. "Haruhi."  
"Mean it…" she offered a hand to help him up.

"Who was that man in the Infirmary?" Takashi watched her instantly freeze up at the question and pulled her hand away, she was going to run. "It's okay…" He spoke deeply; not exactly cautiously. "I'm not going to ask what he said, or what he did. Do you know who that man was, Haruhi?" It was like a minefield.

"…nurse?" She lied, it was obvious.

Ever so slowly he rose to his feet, "no, Kasanoda Ritsu said he saw the woman that did _not_ take the day off. That nurse claimed that she was the only nurse that day, there were no others." He had to watch out.  
Haruhi looked around as if she could find an answer. "He said he was… a substitute nurse, right?"  
"I talked to the female nurse after class, she said there is no one in the Academy—student or otherwise—that goes by the name 'Sudo Tomi.' You're not in trouble, I'm not mad, I'm just curious if you know him."  
She took a step back. "No," her attention finally went to him. "I don't know… he was… nice…" She lied.

Takashi knew that if he continued questioning her, he was going to be another person she would begin to fear due to being pressured. He brought his hand up to rustle her hair softly, but she grabbed his wrist with both of her hands and threw him over her shoulder. His back would not be able to hold out much longer if she continued to put him on it tonight, this time however, she placed her foot on his chest. The giant watched her for the moment, seeing a slight view of confidence in her eyes that he had never seen.

"I can… take care… of myself." Haruhi smiled. "I'm a… Morinozuka."  
"Yes…" that was something he had to remember. "You are…"  
This allowed her to release him. "I am… happy, as… I am."  
"You must understand that I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I understand…" she turned away. "But I have… my own fights…"  
"We all do." Takashi watched her nod to this. "If it's about what happened—"  
"I have reason… to… fight now. I fight… to protect my… family and… my friends."

"There's more to it though." He grabbed her hands and lifted them up slightly. "You have been heavily traumatized by previous events. None of us want you to endure it alone, you're family wants to help."  
"…the Morinozuka Clan has done… too much… for someone like me, Nii-sama." Haruhi then nervously placed her hands against his robed chest, and leaned her forehead against him. "I will… be okay."  
"You can share your feelings with us… with family and friends… even with—" the giant hesitated, not really wanting to say that punk yakuza boy's name. "Even if it's that Kasanoda Ritsu, or… even Kaoru."

"Why?" Her eyes lifted to look into his. "You don't."  
He was caught there, "That's completely different."  
"How?" The girl asked. "How is it… different?"

Takashi paused for probably the longest time ever, trying to figure out how it was different than her position when really it was obviously not. He was going to say that a Morinozuka does not share their feelings or opinions, but she was now and always will be a Morinozuka too. To say that he did not have to share any of his feelings because he was a man was sexist, and it was not something to say to her. So then why; why did she have to express her feeling with others when he did not share his own feelings to others? The giant grumbled lowly in defeat towards his little sister that claimed victory over this verbal battle, and slowly released her hands to hold her upper arms gently. Her body cautiously leaned into him, resting her form against him, which silently told him that he could hug her if that was what he wanted.

Or, so he assumed; he had never hugged her.

He had wrapped his arms around her on occasion as she may clung to him, but it was instincts of protect and being protected. There were times where he would have her held in a bridal fashion, though that was to make sure that no one else would touch her. It was always—one way or another—a form of protecting her, this would be the first time that he had actually hugged her because he wanted to. His big, strong, callused hands slowly shifted from her arms to her shoulder blades, leading to her small back.

_Taken._

The mark burned into his memory and withdrew his hands away from her, not wanting to cause her any trouble or any pain. This even forced him to take a surprised step back; he was getting way to careless with her, he had to be more careful with her. Haruhi, on the other hand, did not seem to take his actions all too well, causing her to look away with a disappointed frown. It was not as if he was intentionally being neglectful towards her, but she suffered so many recent repercussions that he was not confident. In time, he knew that he would be able to hold her in his arms without having a reason, but it would take just that,

Time.

Haruhi looked to the ground for a moment while taking a deep breath when contemplating what to say. "How can I be confident with who I am, if my own brother sees me only as some fragile raped victim?" That said difficultly without any pausing or mumbles, she walked around him, and went upstairs to bathe.

Out of all of the hits that he has ever taken in martial arts and kendo, the words that she told him right to his face, had hurt more than anything else ever did. If it appeared to her that he looked at her as a raped victim—a victim of anything really, it was not intentional, he was just _that_ protective of her. All of these years that he had known her, she was someone whom he trained with when they were younger, and became his little sister four years later. That was as long as she had lived with the Morinozuka family, four long years… and even then she was raped once more since joining the family.

He turned around to leave the dojo as it was, walked up the stairway to go to her room, and gently knocked on the door before opening it. Unfortunately, he completely forgot to wait for permission to enter her room, allowing him to see the backside of her upper bear body when removing her bra. His face turned three times red from barging in as he did, and then quickly turned to shut the door on his w—

"Nii-sama," the young woman called out, not bothered, "it's not like… you haven't seen… this before."  
"I should have waited for permission anyway, I'm sorry." Hopefully she would let him leave her in peace.  
"Will you hurry up… and come in?" she demanded a little sternly. "The steam will… leave otherwise."  
Takashi hesitated, but entered her room with his gaze elsewhere while closing the door. "…sorry."  
"What do you want?" Her tone was not angry, curious possibly though. "You too take showers now."

He came over to sit on the couch with his back turned to her, "I never meant to think of you as a victim."  
"Are you saying… that I'm just weak?" The rest of her clothes were removed, and she placed a towel on.  
"No," his eyes closed, hoping not to imagine her body. "I know it took great strength going through what you went through. You're one of the strongest that I know." He was not lying, but was not specific either.  
"I had practice." It was almost a joke, but she saw that he did not like it. "You're a dummy, Nii-sama."  
This let him smile softly at the old familiar words. "I'm grateful, that you've found your voice, Haruhi."

"I didn't let… Casanova-kun… see my back." She came to the back of the couch, closed her eyes, and wrapped her arms around the man's neck from behind. "I motioned their abuse towards me on it."  
His cheeks reddened a little more. "This isn't appropriate Haruhi." They were too old for jokes.  
"Why do you care?" Her tone seemed dull. "It's not my body anymore." She sighed. "Are you scared?"  
What was going on with her suddenly? "I would never harm you—" Wait. "What do you mean?"

"Taken," Haruhi released him, "that's what's… on my back, right?" Takashi looked over his shoulder at her face. "I am… a plaything… that…" there it was; tears began to form in her eyes. "T-That—"

Takashi mentally sighed in frustration before getting up from his seat and cautiously picking her up in his arms, bringing her into the bathroom and into the tub with the towel still wrapped around her. She began to cry about the reminders the markings on her back gave her; abuse, death, abortion, pregnancy, and of course rape. He carefully grabbed a washcloth and cleaned her up where he could let himself—which was practically her arms, back, and face, he would not dare touch anywhere else. Takashi began to think about things though, what was that sudden change of attitude before she broke down as she always did?

To make things more difficult, Haruhi either passed out through tears, or fell asleep from exhaustion…

Causing Takashi's night to be a little more complicated.


	7. Chapter 07

How many of you missed this story! You all are lucky I was looking through my Ouran Story folders!

* * *

**Chapter 07**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

Her back was casually against the wall with her hands in her pockets as a common male characteristic she learned from her brothers, watching a friend get along with other girls. It made her smile when she could recall how difficult it was for him to get close to anyone, but now he was quite popular with almost everyone at school. Suddenly though, there was a loud crash on the second floor with a female student sounding almost too serious—causing many students to either run or flee to the scene. Haruhi, of course, went to the scene in case someone needed help, but she climbed the wall to the window that was broken while everyone else took the stairs.

"You're a loser!" A sunny tan brown-haired girl with a large bow on her head stated. "You're not a Prince!"

She stared for the moment, looking back and forth between the new student in her class and the student she knew as Suoh Tamaki. This… Houshakuji Renge girl was calling _the_ Suoh Tamaki a Phony Prince in front of other girls and the rest of the Host Club—in public rather. Tamaki looked at the new student with big fake tears while holding his face in pain, Haruhi hoped the girl slapped him or something. He began asking hysterically what she said and why she said such cruel words to him, the Ouran Host Club King. Haruhi continued to stare at the scene as the girl rambled on and on about him being a phony, something about being poorly chosen to be the Princely character of the Host Club, sending him to more tears.

"Then why not call him Prince Phony?" The brunette asked curiously, earning everyone's attention.  
Tamaki looked up at her and beamed with horror. "How could you say that! I'm as princely as they come!"  
"No… you're just obnoxious really." She sighed before getting ready to head down. "Whatever thou—ah!"  
Takashi grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulling her in carefully. "That's too dangerous for you."  
"Nii-sama, I was fine getting up here!" After being placed on her feet, she glared at him for doing that.  
"Haru-chan! I missed you!" Mitsukuni cheered, rushing over to cling to her arm. "Did you climb up?"

"Well… yeah…" Haruhi tried to remember. "Someone broke a window, so I came to see what happened." She looked at the girl. "My guess is she threw something at Suoh-senpai, and in this case, I don't mind."

While everyone babbled about Tamaki being a Prince character or not, Kyouya managed to get all of the customers out of the room before others rushed in. Once he returned, Renge began flaunting with him endlessly while expressing stories about flowers and kittens—the Host Club was thrown into turmoil and confusion. Haruhi did not like Ohtori Kyouya still, for almost every reason possible, so she decided that she was going to leave but Mitsukuni begged her to stay. Tamaki tried asking politely for the little senior to reconsider since she was not a Host Club member, but Mitsukuni turned to him with a glare.

However, with Renge going on and on about Kyouya being someone he was not had caused Haruhi to slip from Mitsukuni grip to trudge away slowly. Mitsukuni called out worried to her in hopes that nothing anyone said had offended her in some way, and came to her side. Takashi was also worried and came to her aide in case something was indeed wrong and wanted to go home for whatever reason needed. The girl placed a hand up the wall and the other to her mouth as she dipped her head with a shutter endlessly.

"Wah! Haru-chan, why are you crying!" Mitsukuni panicked, not knowing what struck this.  
"Wait," Takashi knew this type of shuttering, but she could not be… "Haruhi's laughing…"  
"What, no way!" Kaoru scurried over peaking around her shoulder. "A-Are you okay?"  
"I-I-I've never… met someone… so…" Haruhi failed at holding it in, and laughed.

Everyone stared at her as Ritsu opened the door to make sure everything was all right since he watched Haruhi climb into the window. All but one of them had ever heard her laugh before, but that alone was over four years ago after the second encounter. Takashi then remembered that being a host was even a reason for her to laugh; he first heard her laugh because she found out he joined the Host Club.

"So that's what you sound like when you laugh." Ritsu spoke in amusement.  
She froze and looked at him. "C-Casanova-kun, what are you doing here?"  
"…you climbed into the window from the ground, I wanted to check on you."  
Her attention went elsewhere, "I've already told you before that I can't—"  
"I know, I know, I'm going." He waved. "You don't seem hurt anyway."

Her friendship had been thinned with the past month since she told him that they could not be friends, but that did not stop the redhead from trying. Seeing him leave in an upset manner had hurt her in return, so she left her family and the club to follow him for a quick apology for the way things were. Her brother and cousin could only watch as she left to speak with someone they did not exactly trust for any real reason.

Well… just one reason…

Ritsu would take her from her family often.

* * *

"Listen gentlemen, I've decided that I will ask Haruhi to join us once again!" Tamaki paused. "Assuming… she won't attack any of us in an inappropriate manner." He shivered. "Now then, who all agrees!"

"We agree, but the only one who won't is Kyouya-senpai." The twins stated in unison.  
"Actually, I've placed that behind me." Kyouya stated firmly. "I don't mind her participation."  
Mitsukuni pondered at the idea of this. "I don't know… Haru-chan can be a handful for you guys."  
"Come now, that way you'll know she'll be safe with us!" Tamaki cheered. "She needs to get use to us!"  
"You don't know what she's even gone through." He stated, this time a little more serious for the others.  
"Indeed, Tamaki," Kyouya pressed his glasses upwards. "There's a few more incidents you don't know."

Before anyone could ask, Renge appeared with cookies in hand with Haruhi holding her own batch, so the hosts tried some. Renge's burnt batch versus Haruhi's sweet ginger batch, Mitsukuni gobbled five of Haruhi's cookies before trying one Renge's that turned out to be _very_ burnt. Once Takashi told him to stop eating it due to it being bad for his health, the self-proclaimed Host Club manager went rampaging on the two. Haruhi watched the family members being chased around the Music Room nonstop, and giggled in a cute manner as Kaoru gently took a cookie from her hand, grinning.

"You _really_ have a cute laugh." He stated, taking a nibble.  
Her attention went to him, brows slightly knitted. "Thank you."  
She was nervous around him still. "I'm really sorry about that."  
"At least you know we won't harass you." Hikaru took a cookie.  
His twin called upon her defense quickly. "Hikaru, don't be mean!"  
"What? I'm just saying, since we know, we all can watch over Haruhi."

Haruhi looked up at Hikaru who jealously chomped down on his cookie while looking away; it was obvious that he was not happy about Kaoru being interested in her. However, in order to keep his relationship strong with his submissive twin, he decided to be friendly towards the cross dresser who had an eventful past. She knew that this one was selfish and bratty compared to his selfless brother, but overall, he was genuinely willing to help in any way he could. Hikaru blinked as she extended her hand out to him, as if wanting to greet him as Americans would, causing him to look at his brother for help.

Kaoru motioned behind Haruhi's back to outstretch his hand with his palm facing the ceiling, Hikaru did just that, and Haruhi placed her hand on his. Hikaru blushed in frustration as they shook hands, what would set her off and kick him between the legs, but his brother only smiled. Takashi and Mitsukuni luckily had the chance to see this scene after managing to get away from the psychotic self-proclaimed manager.

Haruhi smiled at the bossy twin, "Thank you very much, Hikaru."  
"Y-You're welcome." Hikaru took his hand back, embarrassed.  
Kaoru clapped happily, "Haruhi has three male friends, good job!"  
"Five," Haruhi corrected plainly. "I have… five, male friends now."

Everyone glanced at her, surprised to hear of two other friends.

"Oh Haruhi! I am so grateful that you consider me as a friend!" Tamaki cheered at her side, causing her to take a step back, leading the twins to step in front of him to keep him away. "Come, let's shake hands!"  
"No." She answered, and he threw himself into a corner. "Arai-kun," Takashi and Mitsukuni knew of him verbally, but never really met him. "The other is a senior here at Ouran Academy, he's very nice to me."  
Hikaru and Kaoru looked to one another before looking at her. "Who?" The two asked in unison with their curiosity peaked. "Is it someone that we might know?" Seeing how they did not know their other friend.

Someone crept up behind them all, "that would be me."

Haruhi looked over her shoulder at him with a smile as all others shuttered in fear. "Nekozawa-senpai had helped me in the library one day when I couldn't find the book I wanted." The cloaked male placed a hand on her shoulder while Bereznoff was motioned on her opposite shoulder. "It turned out that I was looking in the wrong area. He asked me to join his club since I had free time, but I had to decline unfortunately."

"We'll always welcome you though," Umehito Nekozawa stated casually. "We can't wait until you join."  
"Actually, Nii-sama," she rubbed her arm. "He was going to take me to his private beach this weekend."  
Takashi stared at her; this weekend was in two days… but, "when was this decided, Haruhi?"  
"His beach is really, really big! I'm sure you'll like it!" Mitsukuni cheered happily. "I wanna go!"  
Haruhi tried to think, "I guess we had it planned for two weeks I think." She looked to her friend. "Right?"  
"We discussed it earlier this month at my estate when you were playing with Kirimi." Umehito answered.  
"Oh, that's right…" She tried to calculate it in her mind. "So then it was really about three weeks."  
Her bother rubbed his forehead; a sign of being agitated. "When were you going to tell me this?"

"I told Otousama about it and he didn't mind. Nii-sama and Sato-nii were training with Mitsukuni and Yasuchika." Haruhi did not like how he was not exactly thrilled for her keeping this from him. "Does that mean you don't want me to go with Senpai?" She knew that he would be very difficult to get to agree.

Takashi was concerned about the marks on her back, what if they were seen?

"Don't worry, Haruhi-kun, how about we invite the entire Host Club along with some guests. Would that put everyone's mind at ease?" Umehito offered, causing everyone but Takashi and Kyouya to jump and cheer for joy. "In that case, let's schedule it for next weekend so that more rooms will be prepared."

Once he was gone, Renge went into fan mode.

"All of your characters are half-assed! If you guys are going to get to the ladies, then there has to be some major changes around here. Starting with you!" Renge pointed towards Mitsukuni. "You're no different than a baby if all you are is cute and cuddly altogether. Therefore, now you're a cute thug!" The little senior then panicked. "Morinozuka-senpai, you're going to be his underling childhood friend!" He twitched at this. "The twins will be basketball players engulfed in their own world!" They stared at her. "Haruhi-kun, you're going to be an honor student who's constantly bullied since I know nothing about you!" Haruhi blinked, and Renge turned to Tamaki. "As for Tamaki-san, you're better off as the Lonely Prince!" The blonde-haired stared. "Kyouya-sama, please stay as kind and affectionate as you are!"

"Hey!" The twins yelled angrily; not approving Haruhi's category.  
"Haruhi is not a member of the Host Club." Kyouya stated easily.  
"T-That's right!" Tamaki added. "He doesn't have to participate!"

"But," Haruhi started, earning everyone's attention, "I don't understand why anyone would have to change who they are." Her hand left her arm to be at her side, smiling lightly. "I would like to participate, if I can."  
"Haruhi," Takashi called, confused as to why she would want to join the club event. "Are you sure?"  
"I would like to know why the Host Club means so much to Nii-sama and Mitsukuni. Suoh-senpai was right, I need to adjust to others." She smiled. "I'll ask for my classes to be rearranged to what they were."  
"Eh? You're going back to our class?" Hikaru and Kaoru gaped, astounded that she would do that.  
"Yes, that way Nii-sama will stop paying other students to watch over me." Her attention went towards her big brother. "Besides," she then turned to the twins again. "I believe I forgive Kaoru now for what he did."  
"You're the greatest!" Kaoru opened his arms to cling to her, but stopped before he got close. "Uh…"  
Haruhi's smile became warmer as she opened her arms to him. "It's okay Kaoru." With that said, he wrapped his arms around her shoulder blades so he would not be too scary to her. "Thank you."

Kaoru grinned widely.

* * *

Haruhi somewhat enjoyed her little participation in the weird movie for the first half so far; when being 'bullied,' it was by Mitsukuni and her big brother, somewhat. After her older little cousin would finish his lines towards her, he would end up sobbing and apologizing endlessly for saying cruel things to her. As they were drying themselves off, she managed to get some time in with her once-again fellow classmates that so happened to be twins. They babbled about something she did not exactly understand, but then Tamaki appeared loudly at her side intentionally to give her time to react, and it earned him a towel in turn. The Host Club King was just so amazed at this new characteristic side of him, mentioning to her that he decided he should probably look into it a little more, but Haruhi declined.

"You're fine the way you are Suoh—" she paused for a second, "…Tamaki-senpai."  
The idiot beamed happily at this, "does this mean I'm finally considered as a friend!"  
Her hand slowly stretched— "Haruhi-kun! We're ready for you over here!" Renge called.

Tamaki then sobbed; he was about to be accepted, right?

Haruhi came around the corner and froze at the two students that she did not know… or, did she actually know them from somewhere? They looked a little familiar somehow though she could not exactly place where it is she saw them from before—oh, duh, around _school_ most likely. Without even realizing Renge babbling about a breach to the climatic ending, that they needed thugs, and this earned her to be shoved. Haruhi used her body to catch the girl and crashing into school and camera materials leaning up against the wall, causing her to yelp when something hit her raw scarring on her back.

"Haruhi, what's wrong!" Tamaki shrieked when hearing the pained cry.

Tears began to flow uncontrollably without her permission, but she curled and crouched in order to hide the crying, but had to cling to her back. She could not hide her tears and hold herself in pain at the same time, the electrifying waves of the broken down nervous system beneath the scarred tissue hurt too much. Despite being in unbearable pain, she barely was able to notice Tamaki go after the two students with such rage, but it was not their fault.

"Haruhi!" Takashi called sternly with fear as he came around the corner.

Haruhi looked up at him without thinking, and he saw her tears, _'oh no…'_

The giant then snapped into a fit of rage once seeing her in pain; it reminded him too much of his 'failure' of saving her from the incidents with the group that harmed her. He instantly shoved Tamaki out of the way, grabbed both of them by their necks, and dangled them up high against the wall without mercy. As everything slowly began to fill his mind, he began to blackout into that rage—Haruhi rushed over and desperately clung to him from behind.

"Nii-sama, stop! They didn't do anything!" She yelled at him frantically. "Let them go—you're scaring me!"

Takashi paused, trying to look at her over his broad shoulder until he felt her hands grasping his uniform tightly due to the pain against her back. Though he wanted to finish the task of destroying these two for even being near his little sister, Mitsukuni appeared and said that her back was bleeding. Damn it all, he shoved the two aside, hoisted her over his shoulder without caring about her nervousness, and dashed. Not even their cousins knew about the marks, it really _was_ something that only Morinozuka Takashi, Morinozuka Akira, and one doctor knew of. Without much permission, the senior nearly broke down the door to the Infirmary Room to see that no one was there, so he gently placed her down on her feet.

He turned around and closed the door as she yelled at him. "That was uncalled for!"  
"Let me see it," his voice did not make it sound the matter was up for debate.  
"No," she glared in return. "They didn't even touch me and you blacked out!"  
"Tamaki went after them," Takashi did not want to say that he assumed.

"I got distracted by something, when I came back to reality, I saw Renge-chan being shoved. The only thing I could think of was to cushion her fall." Haruhi unbuttoned her coat and looked at it. "My scars must have shredded open… no wonder why it's hurting me so much. Sorry… I ruined a uniform given to me."

Takashi glanced at her, knowing that she was becoming depressed. "A Morinozuka should not be distracted," he paused to think about it, "but in your case," instantly he earned a glare. "What was it?"  
At first, she was going to snap at him for what he said, but when hearing his question, her head turned. "I forgot," she lied. "Keeping you from killing students was my main priority after getting hurt, Nii-sama!"  
The giant flinched at his title at the end, she was _finally _furious at him. "Lift your shirt so I can see if I can stop the bleeding. You'll pass out from blood loss at this point." He went over to grab some materials.  
Haruhi sighed as she unbuttoned the shirt, revealing her tank top, but she did not take it off due to her stubbornness and uncomfortable feeling. "I'm not a doll, Nii-sama, I'm a human." She whispered quietly.

"You're very precious to me, _Nee-sama_." When he said then, she looked over her shoulder to look at him confusedly. "You will always be family, and you will always be our s—" Takashi watched as she thrashed her head into a different direction. "What is it?" Her head shook; he knew. "_They_ said similar things?"

"Please… just clean the wound. Otousama and Sato-nii might be unhappy when you tell them I got hurt." After she pleaded for this, Takashi did as told by lifting the thin clothing upwards to clean the wound.

"Haru-nee, are you okay!" Satoshi, doing as his brother did, broke down the door. "Haru—!" He froze.

Takashi had instantly covered the scars when their little brother rushed in, but he knew that he saw what he should not have seen. The strong willed little brother was also protective of his big sister, but he did not have as much control over himself as his big brother. Blood was everywhere; on Takashi's hands, on the cotton balls and wipes, on her clothes, but he wavered when he saw the markings. Haruhi felt like she was a victim again and was too tired to fight anymore, so she set down her shirt to remove the tank top so it could cover her chest instead.

_Taken._

Satoshi stared at her back for the longest time.

"T-They did that to you?" His memories were fuzzy, he did not understand what happened to her until she started to live with them after her third rape, and he was furious about it back then too. "I'm going to—"  
"Sato-nii," her voice called quietly, "today's incident has nothing to do with them. But about my scar, I was told to not tell you about it." When he came over, she caressed his hair softly. "Sorry for being quiet."  
"Then why does Taka-nii know?" His attention turned to the brother who ignored the conversation as he was cleaning the wound on Haruhi's back. "How come _you_ didn't tell me that Haru-nee had many scars!"  
"It was not his place." She answered for the giant, not wanting them to fight; if it was about her, the two would most definitely fight one another if they had to. "Otousama mentioned it during the first time."

His eyes widened, "first… time…?"

"Each time they went after her, they would open the healed scar wounds." Takashi stated, now covering the wound with bandage wraps. "When cut deeply, the nerves were cut, too. She can't feel directly on the scars, though the skin next to the scars have perfect nerves, they shoot pain when her back is touched."

"I'll kill them all," Satoshi growled as he started to leave, but Haruhi threw him on the bed. "Ah, Haru-nee!"  
"Don't place yourself in danger for my sake, _**either**_ of you two." She demanded gently in a stern voice.  
"No, I'll never agree to that!" His cheeks were grabbed and stretched widely. "H-Haru—nee! S-Stop—!"  
Takashi, once helping her place her clothing back on, added his own statement. "I too, will never agree."

"I understand that you two would do almost anything for me," Haruhi sighed softly before lying down on the bed to curl up. "I know you feel helpless and uncertain because you either don't know what to do or can't understand what to feel." Her hand came down to her lower abdomen as tears began to rise. "But do you know how crippled that makes me feel? How insecure it makes me? How useless I become?"

The brothers looked at one another in hopes of being able to answer her questions by looking into each other's eyes while she now sobbed. In truth, of course they did not know that she felt this way because she had always been mute until recently, and even then she was silent about it. They always thought that their study in martial arts could protect her, but now they were beginning to realize that there was more to it. Their studies from martial arts could protect her, yes, but all that it could protect would be her body from any more damages—even though their studies have failed her before. However, martial arts could not protect her from all the inner turmoil that she has been suffering through all this time, what could they do?

They have always thought of her, mainly, as a China doll.

Beautiful, delicate, and breakable if handled too roughly.

There was one thing that they have never brought into the fact about a China doll though, and things were slowly beginning to make sense. If you give someone a China doll for a collection, it would almost immediately be put away safely somewhere—especially behind glass. You can stare at it all you want, grin about having something that no one else has, but the only thing that is cheated is the China doll. A doll is a doll; somewhere out there a little boy or girl would desperately need something to help them through their troubles. Dolls were not made to be placed behind glass as collector's items to sell to the highest bidder, they were made to be played with.

Right now… their precious China doll was alive, and trying to leave its glass case.


	8. Chapter 08

Another surprise blow to my Ouran fans!

* * *

**Chapter 08**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

The trip had been postponed for an entire month in order for her scars to heal as much as it would allow for the raw skin. But now that they were finally at the Nekozawa beach, everyone was having fun with their guests in the nice warm sun. Haruhi wanted to swim, but knew that she could not do that without risking the girls finding out her gender when she returned from the water. Takashi, on the other hand, had been watching over her nonstop due to his claim of having his bad vibes about her being alone. It was insane how he would look over in her direction every fifteen to thirty seconds whether she noticed it or not half of the time. Nevertheless, she was not going to let him ruin her fun at the beach as she left to be with the senior whom allowed them to come to his private beach.

If she was with someone, Takashi should be able to leave her alone.

Yeah right, he was so paranoid that he began to follow until she turned and looked at him. "Stay."  
His brows nearly fused together with disappointment. "I don't want you to be alone."  
"I'm going inside to be with Nekozawa-senpai, so I won't be alone."

He came closer, grabbing her wrist. "I don't want you out of my sight, is that understood?" His hold was firm without knowing it. "This morning, I told you that I had a bad feeling, and you know what it leads to."

"So what? Am I supposed to be afraid every time you have a bad feeling? I thought that was what you wanted me to get over. I have a reason to fight back now." Haruhi tugged her hand away, but his gasp on her wrist was tight. "Let go of me," she requested softly, causing him to hold tighter. "Nii-sama, let go!"

Her shrill of a yell had gathered everyone's attention, but Mitsukuni shoved Takashi away from her.

Glaring at the giant was pain filled coffee brown hues, and many other eyes that did not matter to him because they were not hers. His gaze headed towards her wrist to see it bruising quickly; he began to understand that he had done her harm. He tried to apologize for being aggressive, but he was only worried about her safety, so he found himself tongue-tied. As everyone tried to figure out what happened between the two, Haruhi turned around and fled the scene so no one could see her tears.

Mitsukuni scowled at Takashi. "Stay away from Haru-chan today." He would not allow the tall cousin hurt his female adoptive cousin with brute strength or anything else, ever again. "Kao-chan, can you go c—"  
"I'm on it." Kaoru looked to Hikaru apologetically. "Sorry Hikaru, I'll be back soon. Try not to have too much fun without me." As he left to check on Haruhi, Hikaru grabbed his arm, startling him. "H-Hikaru?"  
"I'm Haruhi's friend too now, right?" The older twin blushed with embarrassment. "Mori-senpai startled h-him," he made sure to watch his words. "So I want to go check on Haruhi, too. If it's okay, Hani-senpai."  
Mitsukuni nodded to the two. "You already know the steps to get to Haru-chan's side, and you're both accepted." He watched the two leave before looking at Takashi again. "What was that about, Takashi."

The giant looks to the ground, mumbling. "I don't want Haruhi going anywhere, alone."

"That's not your choice to make, Takashi, you scared Haru-chan. What if Haru-chan ends up terrified of you after what you just did?" His head shook unhappily. "Let Haru-chan settle down and come to you."

"…ah." He stared at the sand until his phone rang. He answered it. "Hello?"

Whatever it was, caused his eyes to widen, and jumped up on his feet faster than ever before; this was something very important. Steel blue gray hues turned to Mitsukuni as if to tell him what the call was about, causing Mitsukuni to tense up at the bad timing. Trouble was starting to rise back home, and they had no choice but to return home in order to help deal with the business—with the possible lead. Kyouya looked at them curious as he knew that he could not ask why they would have to leave suddenly, but nodded to them to go. Mitsukuni tried smiling to everyone, telling them to tell Haruhi that they went to get something very important, which was not entirely a lie. However, it was only because the two family members could not tell her face to face what they were about to do for her.

"Everyone is so tense," Momoka frowned worriedly. "I hope Haruhi-kun is alright though…"

"Hey, sorry I'm late! My deepest apologies!" A man came over, waving from the distance in his butler outfit. "I am Sudo Tomi, I am here to serve under the Nekozawa family." He looked at them, mentally grinning. "Please allow me to fetch these lovely ladies some beverages. After all, it's so hot outside."

"Yes, please do." Unaware of the threat, Kyouya tended to the ladies with the help of the Host Club King.

* * *

Haruhi sighed softly as she sat alone in her chambers of the estate they were staying at for the time being, icing her bruised wrist. After hearing a knock, she told the person to come in, and they did so as she removed the icepack from her wrist before turning to look. Her eyes instantly widened in horror as she saw the familiar face, but she knew better than to speak and run away from him. There sitting next to her now, is a man that was there every time she was raped, every time they carved the reminder on her.

"So, you're a Morinozuka girl now, huh girly?" She nodded once. "I bet you could give me a lot of money if I asked you to, right?" Again, she nodded. "Too bad it's not the money that I'm after." His face grew closer toward hers. "All I want is your body." He pushed her down onto the bed, and she merely looked away. "I'm glad you learned." The man had begun undressing her, nicely. "Those girls got nothing on you."

"I have a request." Haruhi started. Not caring if she would be hit because of this. "Do what you want, but leave the marks on my back alone. Otherwise, the others would know it was you who did this to me."

He smirked. "Good point."

* * *

It was a false lead, making the two unhappy about the results of nothing.

"Remember to leave Haru-chan alone." Mitsukuni glared at the cousin next to him as they returned.  
At first, Takashi snorted, but caught sight of a familiar male leaving the estate. "…he looks like…"  
"Forget him," the little one growled. "We have to find the rest of these bastards by _that_ day for her."

The man that Takashi had been watching had finally glanced in their direction. He looked behind himself before turning back to look at them with a smirk as he headed for his car to drive off to who knows where. It finally struck Takashi—that was the guy who said that he was the substitute nurse that day at school, he was one of those rapists! Now it made sense that they could not find a clue where they were led to; all of this was a set up so he could get his hands on Haruhi!

He turned to chase—

"Stop," Haruhi called before he could chase after him. "Where were you."  
"Haruhi, that man was one of those beasts! Look! You're shaking even!"  
"I asked you where you were." Her voice did not falter. "Mitsukuni?"  
Said male flinched. "We thought we had a lead on the remaining thugs."  
"Didn't I beg you both not to get involved?" She eyed the two unhappily.  
Now he frowned. "We only want to make you feel safe again Haru-chan."

"Did it ever occur to you that I would have felt safe if my family told me where they are going to be!" Haruhi was upset, and in pain because she had to endure the abuse once again. "I wanted to put all of this behind me! You keep bringing it up! With you searching for answers makes them that more daring to come back for me! But I'm glad that you weren't here! Otherwise he probably would have killed you both!"

They stared at her as she practically admitted that she was just raped by the man that left the estate.

Both began thinking the same thing as they had their attentions drawn to the man that got in his car.

Their bodies tensed up as they leaned forward to give chase. "Go to bed, _**both**_ of you." She turned away.  
Mitsukuni nearly fell over in surprise. "But Haru-chan! You're going to let him get away with it again!"  
"Again?" Her form turned to him. "My body for your lives. It's all that bastard wants. He had a gun on him."  
Takashi watched the man drive off, and yelled. "Who cares about us! We're trying to protect you Haruhi!"

Fists tightened, and she yelled back in return. "I'm tired of being protected! It's my turn to protect you! He knows where we live! He knows our names! He could kill our family, and all you care about is me! That's not what I want! I want our family to be safe! If my body is the price to pay, fine! It is the price I'll pay to keep you and everyone else in our family alive! I won't lose anyone else!" In the end, she panted heavily.

This was the first time she had yelled at them with all her might; they were taken aback by this, too.

Ever since they could remember, they wanted to protect her from letting these things happen to her.

However, never did they think that she would go through it, if only to protect her family and friends.

Takashi opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. Then tried again. "Haruhi," he paused, frowning. "That man can go to jail for his crimes. Why are you protecting him? Why are you not fighting that man back?"  
"Because the first time I tried, he killed my father." She glared angrily, but tears were falling. "I refuse to lose someone for protecting me. If you can't understand that, then I'm no longer a Morinozuka."  
"But Haru-chan…" Mitsukuni came over to her. "If they get caught, then they can be put away for a long time." She only glared at him, too. He sighed and gave in to her demands. "I'm sorry Haru-chan, I'll stop."

The giant knew that the small cousin was lying, but the fact that he was lying to Haruhi was a bad choice.

Haruhi and Mitsukuni went inside the estate, leaving Takashi out under the stars to think about what she said until a car drove to the edge of the parking lot. It flashed its lights at him as he began to recognize it as the car that had just left the scene… what was going on here? Should he listen to Haruhi and go inside to go to bed, or go over there and give the guy a piece of his mind for everything he put her through. His anger got the better of him and stormed over in the direction of the parking lot where the man stood out of the car, smoking a cigarette. This man was _definitely_ cocky about himself; did this man really believe that he would not be murdered for everything he had done!

Takashi came closer and closer—

"Stop right there, Morinozuka-kun." The man demanded with gun in hand. "Just wanna talk, since ya know who I am. Though, I doubt my girl told you anything in detail." He snickered at him pleasingly.  
"You're confident that I won't kill you or take you to prison in another country." Containing his anger was not the easiest thing to do right know, but the gun was keeping him in place… for the moment, at least.  
"If I don't make a specific call in twenty minutes, they'll know I'm caught, and they'll kill the girl the moment she steps outta the place." He watched at the teenager tense up more. "I got your attention now, kid?"  
"What can I do to remove you from her life. You've done enough damage to her than anyone needs to endure in one lifetime." Naoya glanced at him without care. "Is it money? Then name your price and—"

"There were seven of us on each occasion," he interrupted. "The last idiot got to her on his own in the hospital, and I just did her right now to get my fix." Takashi shifted, and the gun was pointed at him. As this forced Takashi to stay put, the man pointed to the ground with the gun. "The envelope there. Pick it up." Cautiously, Takashi did as told. "Since the gang ain't together, I don't mind selling them out. The name on top is the guy who has a knife fetish that carved the title on her back."

As Takashi looked down the list, he saw how two of six names are crossed out. Both of them were already caught and thrown in jail. "Where's your name?" The man chuckled. Takashi's phone rang.

"Bet that's my girl sending you to bed." He tossed his cigarette and jumped in the car. "I got your number, so be sure to expect a private call from me soon. There's a price for all the information that I gave you."

"I'll have her tell me your name, and then I'll come after you." His gaze hardened as the man started the engine. "I will not rest until I see all of you behind bars, where you'll be put away for the rest of your life."

"She won't tell you, but…" he backed up and drove next to him. "Did you ever wonder why she doesn't like Kyouya Ohtori?" With a chuckle, he drove off, but stopped and backed up once again. "Oh, and don't you mean… you won't rest until you find out which one of us is the father of Haru-ko's baby that she gave up at birth?" As he laughed aloud, he drove away with high speeds.

_'That bastard knew…'_ He growled and answered the phone. "Haruhi?" The phone hung up. He was in trouble now. Takashi turned and headed back to where the majority of the Host Club was sleeping. _'I wonder if she knows, too…'_ It was time he came clean with her then. As his chance arrived quickly.

Haruhi was sitting there on a couch with Mitsukuni curled up in a ball against her while he was shaking like a leaf. Something must have happened while he was foolish enough to take the bait to leave her unattended once again. Only now did he wonder if it was a trap to lure himself to him so that Mitsukuni could be killed by that man's goons… he felt stupid. His mouth opened to speak until she gave him her fiercest glare she could give, forcing him to stay quiet until she spoke to him. Never had he seen her so angry; it was as if something inside her snapped while they were gone—just what did that man do to her?

* * *

Everyone pretended that nothing happened yesterday; the girls were all having the best time that they could as the Host Club pleased them. Haruhi remained a little distant, though, and Takashi was wise to keep his distance because Hell hath no fury like a woman betrayed. He was lucky enough that she allowed him to go with her to the nearest pharmacist to pick up some birth control pills to be on the safe side of things. Not once did she pass him a glance or said a word to him; it gave him mixed feelings because he always wanted her to express herself, and she gave it in full. Haruhi knew everything from the beginning… how they were trying to find out who was the biological father of the baby that she gave away. Since then, Takashi had been off and on the phone, giving the remaining four names of the list to a team of agents that were on the case. All were arrested, and all were tested negative… leaving that one man from last night—the man that sold out all of his friends.

Mitsukuni was unaware of most of his activities since he was the one who received the most scolding last night while he was merely shunned. It was hard for the two males to act as if nothing was happening when Haruhi was not giving them any acknowledgement… making it harder for them to service their guests. Their attention turned to her as she stood up and removed her hooded short-sleeved sweater and her cargo shorts to reveal bikini bottoms. Was she out of her mind? Doing this was a major sign that she was not a boy! Takashi stood up to confront her, but Mitsukuni held him back so she can make a choice.

"…if Haru-chan wants them to know that she's a girl, that's her decision…"

Maybe his little cousin was serious about what he said last night about stopping the hunt for the others since he never asked about why he did not come in when they did. Takashi drew his attention back to Haruhi to see her go into the water, and swam around with her bikini and shirt on. All the girls seemed excited that she was wearing a feminine attire that matcher her appearance as a feminine boy. As Haruhi began to walk out, her head shook off the excess amount of water and almost stumbled into Kaoru. She was surprised to see him and almost retaliated, but he was offering her a towel in hopes of her hiding her identity from the girls before they realized what her real gender was.

"We all can see that you're not happy with Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai, but does that mean that you have to punish the rest of us in the Host Club that want to keep you close?" Kaoru gave her an innocent frown as she looked a little uncaring for a moment. He tried something else. "If you reveal to the others that you're a girl, then we can't have fun together with the others. It's fun with you in the Host Club."

It took her a moment to think about what he was saying to her before giving a weak nod to show that she would put up with it a little longer. He draped the large towel over her shoulders to be a gentleman, and he was given a surprise thank you for his actions. Haruhi lifted upward on her toes to give him a soft peck on the nose—girls squealed with pure excitement at the thought of an attraction between them. Hikaru huffed and complained that it was not fair that he got attention like that, but she came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. This sent the possessive twin into a blushing frenzy. Kaoru grinned widely at how quickly she stopped his brother from causing a bad scene from turning into something that made all the ladies excited to see. As everyone swooped in to ask questions about the sudden trio, Haruhi claimed that she was going to change into some dry close because she was capable of getting sick too easily.

It was true; her health was never that great since she was a child, but never really made that known.

The twins offered to help her to the beach house to get dressed. She left without a word.

Just as they attempted to follow, Takashi stepped in with a glare to answer.

Knowing that they could not pass the giant, they returned the girls.

With a brief snort, he left to follow Haruhi to the estate.

He walked through the entrance and lost sight of her. "I will be moving into the Haninozuka estate." His eyes shot wide, his body froze, and he became in disbelief that he walked past her without knowing until it was too late. "You're an idiot for making a deal with him. What makes you so sure that the names he gave you, really belonged to the men that raped me, huh?" Takashi closed his eyes; never having thought of the possibility that the man from last night could have lied. "Will you stop your foolish hunt for them now?"

His head lowered almost submissively. "I only want to get revenge for you."  
"I'm still alive." Haruhi stated firmly. "Do you see me running around trying to find them?"  
"If a man can't avenge a woman he cares about, then what good is he to said woman?"  
She was quiet for a moment, the whispered. "I want a brother that will be there for me."  
This nearly shattered him, "I am—I'm standing right here." He turned to face her.

"Are you?" She snorted at his statement. "You're always on the phone, or checking it, wondering if all of the men on that list is found." It did not surprise him that she knew of the list. "If you were there for me, why didn't you come in last night with me and Mitsukuni?" He was at a loss at this. "You're standing here in front of me, wondering whether I will give you that man's name. That's not being there for me, Nii-sama. That's just imitating what you think you should be doing for my sake when all I want is for everyone to turn the other way and forget about it ever happening. But every step forward that I make, you have me take two steps back." Takashi could not look her in the eye anymore. It was too painful for him to even consider at this point. "Will you drop this nonsense and be the big brother I need, or are you going to keep on trying to play the hero and do whatever the Hell you want—regardless if it puts family and friends in danger of getting hurt or worse?" He looked away stubbornly as he tried to decide on his answer for her.

"…I don't want them to harm you."

"Well you don't have to worry about that, right? There's only one left, and he's the man who kill my parents. Do you think he's going to care if he kills you or anyone else to get to me?" Hearing this was a surprise to him. Her head shook. "The more you look, the more he'll feels threatened, the more he'll kill."

"Why are you so intent on protecting him."

This was the biggest confusion to him; one he did not understand but would do anything so that he could. She finally stopped looking at him—tearing her gaze away as if she was trying to fight back the thought of crying right now. At first, he thought that she was protecting him as some victims do, but something was starting to seem off about that theory. Takashi wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be fine, but he had failed so miserably from time to time. That was when she practically launched herself into his chest, burying her face away into his chest before stating her reason.

"If I didn't give him the baby after birth, he would've killed you, Satoshi, Mitsukuni, Yasuchika—everyone!" Her hands clasped his shirt tightly. "I wanted to keep her and name her, but as soon as he knew I was pregnant, he wanted her! He is a sick pedophile, Nii-sama, but I had to protect what it was I had left!"

Takashi stared at her without any expression as it became clear.

She sacrificed her daughter for their life…

* * *

Again... I am in the process of moving out of the house to a new one, so I don't know how things will go.


	9. Chapter 09

**A/N: **This chapter may be a little hard to keep up with, but please bear with it. The chapter is somewhat of a filler while I try to figure out where the story would go.

* * *

**Chapter 09**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

He cupped her face in his hands gently, he leaned his face down to hers and—

Takashi stirred awake before his dream became erotic.

His dreams had been becoming more perverted since Haruhi did as she promised by moving into the Haninozuka estate. It surprised him that she went with it, but what was more surprising to him was that everyone in the family thought that it was a good idea. But no one knew her like he did.

No one knew that she wanted to sleep in five minutes past her alarm clock's ringing parade. No one knew that she preferred her breakfast toast to be wheat instead of white because she never complained about it. No one knew that she would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night in fear of someone sneaking into her bedroom to take advantage of her. No one knew her like he did; he knew her best.

Yet his father stated that it was for the best that she got some fresh air when they returned to the estate—that it would be nice for her to take a break from the protective family. Takashi knew that he meant him; that he was being too protective of her recently, especially now that they knew who the last monster was. They knew the last attacker via face, but not by name… making his blood boil. Mitsukuni and Yasuchika were going to have Haruhi all to their selves while he had to be patient and hope that she would return home willingly. How long was that going to take though when it has been two weeks already?

Slowly, he sat up with a low grunt, then blinked at the problem in his lap that he had been having for the past week. It was beginning to frustrate him to no end that his body had been stimulating arousal as he dreamt about his own sister. It made him feel like a predator. Doing what he could think of, he sat there in hopes of the problem settling down by itself as it had been for the past few days. Minute after minute, it was only getting bigger and harder, making him feel disgusted about himself. He did not want to touch himself—he did not want to encourage the perverse things that happened when dreaming about Haruhi.

"You're still in bed?" Steel gray glue hues stared at the sheets in horror when hearing her voice. His head shot up to look at the girl that haunted his dreams. She did not look too happy. "I came by for my gi." Then why is she standing at the doorway? He was happy to see her, but not like this. Her gaze squinted before coming over to investigate after closing the door behind herself. "Are you sick? You're face is red."

"S-Stay there." If she were to come closer, she would definitely notice. She would definitely scream.  
Haruhi stopped in place to his request. "Are you ill?" His head shook. "Then why are you so flushed?"  
His eyes shut tightly, "I-I'm not in a presentable state. Please let me get dressed for school now."  
"Are you planning to go in the condition you're in?" He turned even redder. "What's wrong, Nii-sama?"  
"I don't want you to see me in the state that I'm in!" Takashi froze; he yelled at her. He just… yelled at her.

The hurt that he expected to see did not come forth. "Fine," Instead, she bowed respectfully as if she were a servant. "I will see you at school, I apologize for my interruption." With that, she stood up, and—

"Wait!" No longer concerned with his morning crisis, he leaped to his feet and stood behind her. "I'm sorry…" Haruhi did not move; she did not even attempt to turn around to look at him. "I'm very aroused right now. To have you see me like this… is improper." He watched as she turned around to look at him.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a man in such condition, Nii-sama."

"To be in this state, I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me." Haruhi stared at him for a moment before sighing softly and looking at the time. He also looked and saw that there was on an hour left to get to school on time—making her late in the process too. "I-I'll stay home from school today. Go on ahead."

"You realize that you'll only hurt yourself if you contain an erection longer than necessary." She walked closer as he tensed with concern. "I can't allow you to skip classes today when there's testing for you."  
"I-I'll go to classes later." The look she gave him was something that he had never experienced before. It was like… she wanted to help him… but wanted to kill him at the same time. "It's okay, go to school."  
"You're not wearing garments, are you." His face became redder. "Nii-sama, do you trust me?" His eyes widened. "If you trust me, please stand on your knees." He swallowed nervously before obeying her.  
"H-Haruhi, you don't have to do this." It felt as if he was about to be executed for being aroused in front of her. At least she did not ask him what was the cause of this. "P-Please… go to school Haruhi, I don't—"

"I'm curious if you're a cat." Haruhi stated firmly. He stopped arguing—mainly because he did not understand what she meant by this. Her arms slowly draped around his next, whispering. "Takashi."

His face flushed to a new level, and just like that, he felt himself release… but still hard.

"That's Nii-sama for you, full of energy as predicted." Almost to her surprise, he looked up at her with a pained expression on his face. "You're a cat alright, Neko Nii-sama." Her hand slid into his kimono to tease one of his instantly erected nipples. "I love my Neko Nii-sama so much that it makes me all w—"

Takashi gasped loudly as he flung himself up into a sitting position from his bed.

It was all a dream… even having a dream in a dream… this was becoming more ridiculous by the day—and she was only at the Haninozuka estate for three days. He felt hot and aroused to no end as he looked to his lap to see sullied sheets. This sort of arousal only seemed to happen when he was asleep and she was not home. How embarrassing… how disgusting… how revolting… he was making himself sick to his stomach. Haruhi is his little sister! Takashi was not supposed to think of perverted things about her, _ever_! During the day, there is never a moment where he would think dirty thoughts about her either!

He huffed before heading to the bathroom, wondering why she called him 'Neko Nii-sama' in his dream.

* * *

Haruhi smiled in delight at the sight. "You're very cute with the cat ears, Casanova-kun." Hearing this, his face became as red as his hair. "Don't be shy," her smiling became that much more adorable. "I like it."

"B-But the significance… I-I…" At that moment, his nose began to bleed.  
"Sorry, Casanova-kun, I didn't mean to harass you." She lifted his head up and placed a tissue in his nose to stop the bleeding. The girls clung together with anticipation. "Where did your mind wander to, huh?"  
"N-N-Nowhere in particular!" His other nasal passage began to flow with blood.  
"Who would have imagined that I would have such a strange fetish with kittens." Haruhi smiled as she cleaned his nose. "Sorry, Casanova-kun, I'm troubling you for no reason. We just became friends again."  
"That's more than enough to come troubling me for no reason at all, Morinozuka."

"KYAAAA!" The girls squealed, screamed, screeched, and fainted.

Takashi could not understand the irony of this when comparing it to his dream from earlier that morning; it was just too much for him to take in. Everyone except Kyouya and Hikaru were wearing cat-eared headbands today, which made no sense to him at all. Just as Haruhi finished with her set of girls, plus the unconscious Ritsu, she came over for some tea until the twins decided to stop her for a question.

"Haruhi, am I really the cat between me and Hikaru?" Kaoru frowned innocently.  
She smiled in return. "It can go both ways. But to see Hikaru play the hurtful kitten wouldn't be so bad."  
Hikaru blushed profusely at this. "H-Haruhi! There's no way I would ever play the role of a cat!"  
The girls gasped as the rookie host club member frowned. "Not even for me?"

His face flushed before muttering under his breath and shoving the headband on his head; earning a kiss on his forehead as his reward. He became completely flustered by this that he turned to Kaoru as they both sobbed about being Haruhi's defenseless little kittens. Defenseless, though? Takashi was finding himself more irritated by the moment—did they not realize that they could offend Haruhi! The excited customers paid him no attention as the girls all agreed that Haruhi would be some butch while everyone else in the Host Club would be cats. Then there was something like, 'if it came to Kyouya-kun or Mori-kun, Haruhi would be the cat.' Not liking the thought of being different from the others, he found a headband with black cat ears… would he dare? Feeling left out of all the praising as Haruhi knocked out Tamaki's batch of customers when she tended to him, Takashi placed out the cat ears.

Mitsukuni saw this and cheered. "Haru-chan! Takashi is a cat too!"

Everyone froze and turned to see the giant with cat ears. Everyone but the two Host Club seniors—plus the idiot Host Club President understood the meaning of this. Everyone turned to see what Haruhi's reaction would be to this, only to see that her face was flushed and unreadable. Before anyone knew it, she tried to fight off a laughter by covering her mouth, and tears started to erupt at the very thought.

"N-Nii-sama… w-what are you doing?"  
He blinked at her. "Call me Neko Nii-sama."  
"Pfft!" Haruhi could not help but laugh at this.  
"KYAAAA! I KNEW IT!" The customers cheered.

Hikaru and Kaoru began bursting out in laughter, Hikaru spoke first. "I-I can't believe it! Hahaha! M-Mori-senpai being the cat! Hahaha! He has no idea what it means! Hahaha!" Everyone laughed even harder.  
The younger twins lightly smacked him on the arm. "D-Don be mean Hikaru! Pfft!" His head turned and began laughing harder. "B-But no matter what—I can't picture this in my head at all!" He even cried now.  
Haruhi tried to contain her laughter, but with everyone's laughing and surprise, she came over to her big brother and guided him to the changing room. "Nii-sama, you don't have to punish yourself anymore."

Takashi looked at her without emotion; obviously confused.

"When I guy claims to be a cat, it means that he's bottom in a homosexual relationship." Takashi blinked. The wheels were not turning. Haruhi sighed. "You just made the entire room think that we have—or will sex, and when it comes to sex, the ladies in the room think that you play the woman's role between us."

His face flushed ridiculously.

She could not help but feel a little guilty. "Lean down Nii-sama." Obediently, he leaned forth and she removed his ears. "To be honest, if I had to look at you in that manner. You seem to be the opposite of a cat majority of the time. But when it comes to me, you often become very submissive since you don't want to upset me or get me mad normally." Haruhi smiled weakly. "Although Neko Nii-sama is cute, it doesn't really suit you. Where did you come up with such a ridiculous nickname for yourself anyway?"

He did not know what was more surprising to him; how he should answer the question, or her laidback attitude that he had not seen in years. It made him smile to see her act so naturally, but what created this new attitude for her? It was true that he had not been able to see her since Sunday when she was giving him Hell for his behavior. In that second, Haruhi sighed heavily before placing the ears back on his head.

"Never mind, the cat ears are a good punishment for you because you aren't letting go of the past." He flickered guiltily when being caught for thinking about it. "Are you going to stop your obsessive behavior on finding the last man?" Takashi nodded slowly. "You know I won't forgive you if you're lying to me."

"I only want you safe."  
"There's enough death on my conscious."  
"What happened to them was not your fault, Haruhi. I promise."  
"That doesn't make me any less guiltier. They were _my_ parents. Imagine if Sato—"  
"I do." Takashi frowned painfully. "I imagine if I were in your shoes… if I lost our family members…"  
"But you haven't lost them. Even I have found myself believing that you're truly my family when you're—"  
"I _am_ your brother. We _are_ a family. That's why I want to keep my little sister safe from the bastard."  
"If you wanted me safe, you would have kept me locked up at the estate. You would never left me out."  
"Because we didn't want to take away your freedom. We want you to experience the good in life."

"And yet that very same day I ventured out into the world again, I was raped. Wasn't I?" She watched how is eyes shot wide. "Just now, you thought, 'if we had kept her home that one day—or kept her at the estate, she would not have become pregnant." This caused him to look away, hurt for being so obvious. "I don't blame you or anyone else for my misfortunes. But I blame you for not letting go of this hatred you have for him and the others. I can't be happy when my family is not happy." Haruhi frowned at him.

"It's my job to protect you." His hand came up and caressed her face with the back of his hand. "It's my job to keep you safe." He wanted to be her knight in shining armor. "I failed you, time and time again."

"Then grow up and be the man that I need you to be. Grow up and be the big brother that I need." Her hand came up to lower his hand from her face. "Erase the past from your mind. Erase my scars and your failures to start anew." She smiled weakly at him, trying to assure him. "Start anew with me at this very moment. Then when I'm able to trust you, I'll gladly tell you the name of the last man that was involved."

This was the first time that he ever felt threatened.

Due to the lack of his answer, she shrugged. "Fine, do what you want then." Haruhi turned away and left the changing room to tend to the customers—particularly, an embarrassed redheaded male from 1-D. "I didn't mean to take that long. But I guess I'll have to go with Plan C soon because I'm being neglected."

Takashi's ear perked at this. What was 'Plan C—' what was the other two before that?

"Ah? You're going to go and do that already? I'm not complaining or anything, but I'll miss you." Ritsu said in a soft whisper. "Do you know which country you plan to hide in?" She nodded. "Then I'll help you do it."  
"Before you intend to flee the country over a small sibling spat, how about you give us one night to throw you a goodbye party." Kyouya smiled politely. "It would be my honor to arrange things for you."  
Haruhi smiled happily at him. "Over my dead body, Senpai. I don't need a goodbye party, thanks." She looked to Ritsu, patting his chest. "Kay, I have to go pack my belongings so I can go on my little journey."

Takashi hurried over and stood in front of her, stunned. "What do you mean by this?"

"Since you don't want to listen to me, then the only way for me to be safe, is to be in another country." She walked around him casually. "So I have to pick the country and location, and no one will get to know where I am so that I won't be found." Haruhi sighed softly. "It's a safety precaution since you won't stop."

"I'll stop." He ran in front of her again. "I will stop looking. Please don't leave."

Her hands rested on her hips. "Why should I believe anything you say? You'll either go behind my b—"  
"Seeing you hurt will break the heart, but not seeing you every day will kill me." He admitted honestly.  
Haruhi could not believe his words; it was too surprising. "…Taka—" She cringed. "N-Nii-sama… I—"  
"Call me Takashi… if that's what you want to call me, then call me Takashi. Just don't leave my side."  
The embarrassment from his words caused her face to turn red. "N-No… I like calling you N-Nii-sama."

"I'm sorry," Takashi cautiously took her hands in his. "I promise I'll stop." He swallowed nervously as he was on a roll—not realizing that everything he was saying was in front of a large audience. "I know that I don't understand what you went through—what you're going through… but I truly care about you and what happens to you." Ladies were moved by his charismatic charm that was affected everyone in the music room. "If you want to talk to me, I'll listen. If you want to cry, use my shoulder. If you want to hit something or someone, hit me. I want to be someone you can trust to be helpful to you, whenever you're ready." Takashi thought about it, and added. "I want to be the big brother that my little sister needs."

The room went dead quiet.

Haruhi sighed softly with a humble smile. "I've always been willing to talk about my problems, but you were never there for me." She gently removed her hands away from him. "You were always there for everyone else. Mitsukuni, Sato-nii, …everyone in the family, even these ladies and the Host Club. You are always fully there to hear what they needed and what their problems were. But you were never there for me." Her smile saddened as she watched him look confused. "You're too scared to see me as _me_. You attention to me is never full, you always wonder, 'where is the bastard,' and look away from me."

"I'm not looking away." Not right now, at least…  
She smirked. "Are you sure? Where's your mind right now?"  
"…when will you allow me to be trusted with everything, Haruhi…"  
"You were there, what more is there to know?" Her head shook softly.

Mitsukuni tried to help the giant. "I think he means—"

"I know what he means, but it only means that he's using my trust again, to go against something I've asked him to stop." Haruhi then gave a heavy sigh. "But now that all the girls know that I'm a girl, I guess I should go ahead and go back to home schooling to be on the safe side." She groaned at the thought.

"NO! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US HARUHI-KUN!" The ladies cried out, startling her. "PLEASE STAY!"

Haruhi laughed weakly at everyone jumping into the private conversation. "I'll think on it a bit more." She was feeling sleepy for some reason. "I think I'll rest in the infirmary until you finish hosting, Nii-sama."  
"I'll take you." Takashi and Ritsu called in unison; both glaring at each other for offering the same thing to her. She took the offer from Ritsu since he was not a part of the Host Club, and he was there for her only.  
"Casanova-kun will drop me off, after hosting hours, you can come wake me up. The giant nodded reluctantly at this. "I'll see you in a few hours then." With that, the two freshman left together in hand.  
When the two were gone and clearly out of sight, Kyouya approached the giant. "I have the name of the man that impersonated a nurse that one time—and it happens to be the same man from the beach."  
Takashi whirled around to look at him after hearing such news. But… the question was, would he be willing to hurt her trust in him—was it worth risking everything that he had just said to her right now? "Ah."

This took the Shadow King by surprised. "Do you want the name?"  
He wanted it. He wanted it so bad that he could go crazy! "…no."  
"Very well, then I will be the one to pursue this character in your place."  
After her speech—their talk, he could not betray her. "Do what you want."  
Kyouya looked at him briefly before smiling, "as you wish." He started on it.

The giant could not believe that he was going to start the search there and now, but had to refuse the temptation of joining in. He needed to be the person that Haruhi needed, not someone that's Hell-bent on the past where someone tormented her. Even though that one person was obviously the father of Haruhi's baby that she had given birth to not that long. Suddenly, Kyouya slapped his laptop shut with his eyes widened—as if he had found something that he wish that he had not. This caused everyone to look at him; wondering what caught his attention so soon in the beginning of the search.

"What's wrong?" Tamaki asked a bit worriedly.  
The Shadow King was frozen. "…it can't be…"  
"Kyou-chan?" Mitsukuni worried. "What's wrong?"  
He looked up at Takashi, "if I remember right, you—"

"Aniki!" Ritsu panted while holding his stomach in pain while sporting a black-eye. "Morinozuka…" He gritted and leaned against the doorframe. "A guy…" His face scrunched to harbor the pain. "A guy came toward us… Morinozuka… knocked me out… I don't…" He coughed; a sheer sign to Takashi and Mitsukuni that she had kicked him swiftly in the ribs after punching him in the face. "Can't… find them…"

Instantly, Takashi's adrenaline was fueled and began running out of the music room to find them, only to slow down to a stop. Looking at Ritsu… he could see the familiar hurt of failure to protect Haruhi; he knew what if felt like to let her down when she needed someone the most. His attention turned to Kyouya and asked him to take Ritsu to the infirmary to be checked on before running off again. Mitsukuni joined the chase, as did everyone else in the entire room, minus Kyouya and Ritsu. All ran as fast as possible to find her, only to see a car driving off at an erratically fast pace, just as Takashi's phone beeped in his pocket.

He fished it out in hopes it was her, and it was: _"He is taking me to see my child. I'll be fine."_

His hand clenched the phone angrily as he tried to debate on his decision. Who knows what would happen if he decided to pursue them; he might kill her or the baby that she admitted that she wanted to keep. What could he do to protect her from that monster? How could he protect her if she was so busy trying to protect those that she cares about—what was the point of lecturing him if she goes the same!

Another text appeared: _"Will be home by dinner. Don't worry, go home. Sorry."_

Really? He is supposed to go home and sit on his thumbs while waiting for her to come home? How was he was supposed to do that—how would he be able to be so patient? Takashi wanted to go find her and protect her… to tell her that this would never happen again. Dare he object… she might flee the country. His eyes shut tightly at the ultimatum tugging him back and forth before looking towards everyone else.

"Haruhi is safe…" He tried to convince them, and himself. "…go home."  
"Will Haru-chan go home soon?" Mitsukuni watched him nod. "I'll go with you and wait."  
"We want to come too." Hikaru looked away, removing the cat ears from his head. "I'm worried."  
Kaoru turned to look at the twin in surprise. "Hikaru…" He turned to Takashi. "Can we come with you?"  
"I want to come too!" Tamaki sobbed. "Our precious Princess… I want to make sure she's okay!"

* * *

Haruhi quietly entered the estate just shy of sunset. She was tired and exhausted; her eyes red and her body language showed weakness. As she walked into the family room, she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight in front of her. Takashi and Satoshi… Mitsukuni and Yasuchika… Ritsu… the Host Club… the customers… all of them were sitting or standing… starting at her with worry. The eyes on her made her uncomfortable for the most part, but Takashi stood up and walked in front of her to take all her attention. Her chocolate brown hues looked up at him with confusion as to why everyone was there.

"We were all here, waiting for you to come home instead of running after you." Takashi brushed her bangs out of her face. "You're okay, right?" He tried to search for answers through her eyes. "Did… something bad happen—did he hurt you? Did he—" His eyes shot wide open at the next thing she did.

She walked to him, wrapped her arms around him, and softly cried into his chest.

* * *

**A/N:** Lol, what the Hell, right? What's going on... what freaked Kyouya out so much that he was pretty much speechless for the most part?

I **TRY** not to ask this anymore, but... please leave a review on what you think would/should happen throughout the story. I have a very dangerous plot which Takashi might not recover from. So, anything you guys can add to it will be helpful.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **After this chapter, please read my note. I know it'll be silly. But I'll promise Chapter 11 & 12 SOONER!

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

It had been a somewhat peaceful month since the scare she gave everyone.

In fact, one would dare say that things were having a normal feel to it—as if nothing had ever happened. At times, it appeared that Kyouya had been more nicer to Haruhi and gave her the distance she wanted and deserved. The two of them hand slowly became friends, but she was still particularly close to Ritsu and the devilish twins. Haruhi had earned herself a good wakeup call when she learned that there were many people that cared about her; care about her for who she was and not what had been done to her.

But more importantly…

"Haruhi," said girl looked up at her older brother curiously. "The tea is finished."  
After blinking curiously, she smiled happily at him. "Okay, I'll get it and serve it to everyone."  
"Are you sure?" If she wanted him to help, he would gladly do so, but she had adopted doing the chores.  
This time, she could not help but laugh weakly. "I have no customers. Go help Mitsukuni with his crowd."  
Takashi debated until coming over to assist her with the tea. "I'll help." Instantly, she nudged him away.  
"Go away you smelly person," try all she might, she could not shove him far enough. "I said I got this!"  
"I don't smell." Although he could smell the faint scent of his sweat from Kendo Club on him. "…much."  
"Really, I know that musky scent anywhere. Go shower the girls with your manliness, I'll call if needed!"  
Just as he was about to object, she finally got him to move, so he started to leave. "Hn."  
Haruhi huffed lightly; he was not the easiest person to move without violence. "Jeez."

The two had been getting along better because he dropped the task of searching for her last attacker, and it seemed like they were best friends. It was to the point where he could even be a little playful and cause her to be just as obnoxious. There were even times were they would roughhouse as if they were brothers, and often times—after the fact, he would realize what he did. But she liked messing around like that. To Takashi… it seemed that by actually putting the past behind him, he good focus on the important things of the present. She was alive, she was safe, and she was happy where she was. So what could be any better than that? Everyone was healthy and happy—then it hit him, she still wanted her daughter…

After we walked over to host with Mitsukuni, he looked over his shoulder to see Kyouya approach her—more cautiously and aware than in the beginning. Haruhi looked at him with a casual smile while mentioning something about the tea that she was preparing for the customers. He could not see the Shadow King's lips to attempting understanding what he was saying to her, but whatever it was had made her frown a bit. Her graze lowered to the side in a bit of thought before looking back at him while saying that there was no reason for anyone to be after her anymore. Kyouya asked something else, and whatever it was had caused her to show a great deal of concern in her. As soon as she tried to avoid replying, Kyouya extended an arm out to keep her where she was to give him a reply he wanted.

"Kyouya." Takashi called out; his voice was monotone, but there was a hint of warning in it to.

Not willing to press his luck with the senior classmate's little sister, he stopped his pursuit for answers. She bowed her head to him before grabbing the tray of tea to pass around—starting with her brother and cousin. "It's okay Nii-sama… he was asking something a little personal, but it was for a good reason." He looked skeptical about the answer, but decided not to press her on the matter or else risk their good relationship. "Before I forget, both of you, don't forget your meetings. Yasuchika asked for you to be there, Mitsukuni. And Sato-nii wanted you to maintain order in the meeting for Kendo Club today, Nii-sama."

Mitsukuni groaned, Takashi grumbled, and the customers squealed at their obedience toward her.

She made her way towards the twins who opened their mouths in unison, but she interrupted. "No, I'm not going to come over, and no, you're not coming over to the estate. I told you, my brothers and I are planning a celebratory party for their thirty-year anniversary." They huffed. "Be good and I'll invite you."

The twins looked at one another before grumbling unhappily at the thought of being 'good.' "…fine."

"What about me, can I go? Please? Can I, can I?" Tamaki brimmed with excitement like a pup greeting its Master after a long day at work. "Can I help plan the party, too? Please oh please oh please!" She placed a hand on his head, smiling softly. His face lit up with unexplainable happiness. "That means 'yes,' right?"

"Absolutely not," she smiled. "What kind of hosts would we be to allow a guest to help plan the party?"  
"But—!" It hit him. "I get to go! I get to go! Yay!" He jumped out of his seat to make arrangements.  
Haruhi grabbed his coat and sat him back down. "A host doesn't abandon their lovely ladies, right, King?"  
Tamaki became wide-eyed for a moment before gasping and turning to the ladies. "My apologies, ladies."

Once everyone received refreshments and snacks, Kyouya's phone began ringing. "I understand." He closed his phone and turned to the audience. "Alright everyone, it's time to close." Kyouya announce politely before everyone groaned in unison about the sudden change in plans for all that were there.

The girls left in an orderly fashion as they gossiped about the day at the Host Club and how fun it was. As they left, they all turned to Kyouya who only explained that he got a lead on a case that he was working on, and needed to follow up on it before the trail got cold. This caused the twins to shrug without much care about what he was doing—whether he was even telling the truth or not, so they left to go home after him. Tamaki wailed at them for having the rest of them clean up the music room before closing leaving. She defended the twins, telling them it was okay that they left, and reminded the Host King that her family members also had to leave for important reasons as well. It left the two alone to clean up, making him blush a little at the thought of having quality time with her—which shattered when Takashi scowled at him.

"Nii-sama, be nice." Haruhi nearly laughed as she nudged her kin toward the exit.

It did not take much for the two to listen to her, and they left together to head towards the two dojo buildings that stood next to each other. Tamaki was somewhat grateful that he would have this time alone with Haruhi to get to know her; he was the least acquainted with her for some reason. He knew what to do and what not to do when around her, he knew how to act around her unless noted otherwise. They just never had the chance to spend alone together, and so he decided to bring up a small conversation so they could do a little bonding while they cleaned up the room.

"Nice weather… huh?" After he realized what he said, he slapped his forehead.  
Haruhi only giggled lightly at this. "It _is_ nice, isn't it? The dark clouds to start the fall season."  
His idiotic attitude lessened at the content tone of her voice. "…do you like this season?"  
"It reminds me of my brothers, being in the rain is like being with them. The day washing away."  
Her tone seemed too mature for a moment, but continued. "Did something happen, Haruhi?"

She looked at him for a moment before gathering cups and plates. "You know that I was raped, right?" Her gaze turned to him to see that he was frozen at the reminder. "It's happened four times with the same people. I got pregnant twice, but was able to abort the first time it happened. However, if I ever wanted to have kids that I wanted in the future, I would have to have the second pregnancy go full term." As Tamaki stood there, listening to the story as she continued to clean up. "I was demanded to give up my daughter or else lose family members of my family. So I gave her away to the men that did me harm. But with most of them in prison, I have a small chance to get her back." Haruhi stopped to look at him to get his opinion. "To what lengths would you go to, to get back something that you cherish deeply, Tamaki-senpai?"

Hearing his name snapped him out of his stupor from her story. "My mother… I'm not allowed to see her. But if I were allowed to, I would probably do whatever I could, but I would get in trouble with family."  
"It's not easy, is it? To hide something you desire greatly?" Haruhi smiled at him warmly before looking at the tableware on the tray in hand. "Last month… I was allowed to see my daughter for the first time…"  
"…first time?" He did not understand what she meant by this. "But didn't you see her when you gave birth to her?" Her head shook as she set the tray down. "I-I'm sorry… that must have been really hard for you."  
"I have a chance to get her back, but then when the truth comes out… it'll her Takashi so much that I don't know what would happen after that." Tears started to fall, and she gasped. "S-Sorry, I don't mean—"

Before she knew it, Tamaki brought her into his arms and held her tightly. "It's okay… cry all you want…"

It felt like a breaking point for her, and she cried as loud and hard as she could for a moment to get it out of her system. These were things that Takashi knew, but it was not the same because he had always been by her side. There were so many things that would hurt her and her adoptive family; she did not want to trouble them in ways that could not be repaired. As she settled down, she started to get a bad feeling and happened to looked around his arm toward the doorway to see that man with a gun.

It notched.

"SENPAI!"

* * *

A gun was fired—everyone on campus heard that loud thundering sound.

Takashi stared at the second floor of the main building from outside the second dojo with Mitsukuni right next to him. They were both tense until they heard glass shattering around the corner where the Third Music Room was located, and then another gunshot. Club meetings would have to wait as they ran towards the main building and ran all the way to the music room where there were obvious signs of a fight not too long ago. Tables were flipped, expensive china was broken, and blood was spread around. There was even the Host King, holding his arm where blood was soaking through his clothes, they ran to him—

"What are you doing!" Tamaki panicked in worry. "H-He took her! She shoved me out of the way, and then he shot her leg! That man was carrying her—he couldn't have gotten far!" He cringed and clenched his arm tighter, fighting back the tears descending down his face. They took a step toward him and he yelled at them some more. "It's just a graze! Go find her! I don't want something bad to happen to her!"

The two cousins looked at one another before nodding. Mitsukuni stayed behind to check on Tamaki while the giant ran off—following the blood trail that he failed to notice on his way into the room. That man did not look particularly strong enough to do so much as run around with a wounded hostage in arms, but he could not judge by size or shape. Just then, he found himself running behind Kyouya who turned to see him on his heel—what if it was Kyouya, what if Kyouya was the real mastermind behind everything. It was not likely, but there was a chance that he could be playing a part in all of this since he called the hosting session today short. With that in mind, he grabbed the Shadow King and threw him into the wall.

"Where is Haruhi!"

"I don't know! I'm following the blood just like you!" Kyouya tried to shove him off, but to not prevail.  
"You set this up!" His hand went to the other's throat, wanting to squeeze the life out of him now.  
"It was a trap—I thought there was—a lead. You—fell—for it too—at the beach!" He tried to speak.  
Was that guy really always one step ahead of them? "Fine." Takashi released him and followed the trail.  
The Shadow King followed did his best to keep up with him, "this is exactly what I was afraid of though!"  
"What!" His steel blue gray hues looked at him briefly as they ran outside the building, nearing the street.  
"I don't exactly know why, but he wants her pregnant again as a way to torment her mentally!" He replied.

As a black car bolted off away from campus, Takashi panted heavily as he turned to Kyouya. "What?"

The Shadow King loosened his tie and tried to take a breather. "After a pregnancy… a woman can only—should only, become pregnant again… when the body is fully recovered." He panted, shaking his head as he took his glasses off. "Fighting you and everyone else was a way to slow her recovery… but recently… she's been a lot better… allowing her to heal…" Kyouya wiped his forehead. "I asked her today… if she was ovulating…" Takashi began to show signs of defensiveness. "I was asking because I too wanted to protect her! That bastard is a doctor of one of our facilities! All of them were! Except one that was a part of the Ohtori Police Force that turned out to be a pedophile!"

"You knew this and you never told anyone!"

"You're not so innocent either!" Kyouya yelled back at him just as angrily. "How is it that you can be in the same room as that man, and not know it!" He panted again as Takashi stared at him in disbelief. "That doctor, the man that took Haruhi away… he's not just any doctor, he's _your_ doctor, too! Every time to go in for a yearly check up, it was always that man there! You went to a physical exam yesterday and saw that man in the eye, and you did nothing about it!" Takashi stared at him still, but now in horror. "His name—his alias at work is Sudo Tomi, that's why she hated me—are names sound similar! But when crossing his facial records and everything, it turns out that he is a doctor from China that enjoys sexually assaulting young children!" He placed his glasses back on as the other club members ran over.

Takashi could not absorb this information too well—the man had even…

"I feel responsible because that man works for my family. But right now, there is no telling where she is and if she's alright—" Kyouya stopped talking when Takashi's phone beeped. The giant pulled out his cell phone to look at the text message, which they all looked at. _"Help m"_ She must have been caught trying to send the message for aid. "I'll send my police force to find any clues that might lead us to her location."

"We'll track her phone! We're good at stuff like that!" The twins stated firmly.  
Mitsukuni frowned. "Tama-chan needs to go to the hospital… his bleeding won't stop."  
"I-I'm okay… this is n-nothing… Haruhi got s-shot in the leg…" Tamaki cringed at the pain.  
"What if she's killed." Takashi finally added his concern into the mix. "He's killed before…"  
"No," Kyouya corrected. "She believes that he killed. One of them was a therapist that could hypnotize."  
This really struck a nerve—to think that this guy knew all sorts of information. "Say that sooner!"

"I offered you to join my investigation, but you turned it down, remember? Furthermore, although the majority of them are doctors, there was one amongst them that was an ex-policeman, he most likely would be the one to kill, but he is in prison." Kyouya announced firmly to the group. "I've looked at the Onishi's file from here and China, he _has_ broken the code of doing no harm, obviously." His attention went to Takashi who looked as if he was about to snap. "But he has never killed anyone before."

"Yet," The giant added before shaking his head angrily. "We're wasting time."

* * *

Haruhi cringed at the pain in her leg, and her body covered in a white, bloody robe.

Looking around, she noticed the unpleasant smell of cigarettes, and a cry from another girl—only to realize that she was in a cage with five girls slightly younger than her in another cage next to the one that she was placed in. They all looked terrified and in worse shape than her—some were even pregnant no less, and she began to remember what happened. After seeing Naoya with the gun at the very last second, she threw Tamaki aside quick enough to avoid being shot in the back. It was after that that she tried to take the gun away from him, but he threw her off and she fell over a table. Tamaki must have gone through shock because he grabbed the tray, shattering the tableware on it, and threw it aimlessly while on the floor—breaking the window. Although… it was probably because of his useless aim that the bastard shot her leg to scare the Host King, and was then kidnapped, drugged, and brought to this weird place. As she slowly sat up, she noticed something…

The five girls looked similar to her: short brown hair, brown eyes, small figures…

"You're awake," his voice filled with sincerity and a hint of a sinister aura. "I took the bullet out for you."  
"Ah… thank you, Onishi Naoya. Why am I here, and why are these girls here? What have they done?"  
"These atrocious creatures? Isn't it obvious?" He frowned. "They are being punished for their sins."  
"And what sins have these poor girls done to upset you? What sins have I done to be brought here?"

"These girls are trying to look like you! It's a sin to try to copy your rare beauty." As if he sounded like they had done something wrong, he became serious. "And you… I told you to follow your heart, Haru-chan."

She bristled at the title, but tried to work around it. "I was doing as you asked. Keep them away so I—"  
"No, no, no… this has nothing to do with them. I told you to follow your heart my dear sweet child. Yet the only thing you're doing, is playing with that boy's heart… it's not nice. I've been trying to help you."

"Help me? What boy?" Haruhi wondered why he became a little weird since last time—like he snapped.  
"What boy? Morinozuka Takashi of course! The boy has loved you since the moment he met you!"  
"Wha—he's my brother, of course he loves me. I love him too, what does that have to do with anything?"  
"Tsk, tsk. My brother was so naïve when it came to you. He thought he could keep you all to himself."  
Something clicked in her head, and she smirked. "That explains everything. I thought it was just a rumor."

"What rumor?" He smiled happily.

"The one where Onishi Naoya's alias was Sudo Tomi, but really… it was an alias to an alias." Haruhi started to get up, but remembered the wounded leg, and settled back down. "Sudo Tomi was an alias to the world as a good doctor under the Ohtori name after studying abroad in China to hide his pedophile needs. That alone was to protect him from the name he used to rape the children, Onishi Naoya, the name of your father, and your mother's maiden name." She shook her head in disbelief; laughing weakly. "Onishi Naoya killed his wife after bearing him two twin sons when he wanted daughters. Isn't that right… Yamamoto Arata?" At first, he did not look happy, so she asked. "Where is your brother, Tanaka—"

"He gave me no choice, Haru-chan… I had to protect you, I wanted you to be happy!"

"How is kidnapping me supposed to make me happy? How is kidnapping those frightened girls, making them happy!" She could care less about her leg, and stood up. "You need to stop this behavior, now!"

Arata suddenly became serious. "The others did what I told them to, so I wouldn't kill them." His head tilted a little. "When I was walking down the street that day, seeing you with those boys… the tallest of the four showed signs of want. You were so cute and blind, I wanted to help you find your true love. So I told them to get rid of your mother and father, only… your mother was the one who got you that day…"

"You had them rape me just to kill my parents? Are you serious!"

He hushed her fatherly before entering opening the cage to stand in front of her, holding her face. "No, no, no, they were never supposed to touch you. I was angry too, but it all things happen for a reason! Wasn't it exciting to have the boy run to your side all those times? Someone wanted to protect you, that is love Haru-chan, he's in love with you." His smile became that more sickening. "Why else would I have gone through all the lengths to have you pregnant with such a perfect, beautiful, healthy baby girl, hmm?"

Haruhi shoved him away, falling down in the process because of her wound. "What do you want with me!"

"It's my turn, Haru-chan. My brother and his idiot childhood friends got to play with you while I had to wait, but I won't wait any more. I want you to be happy, Haru-chan. I want you to have a son, too. That way, you can have a big happy family!" Arata came closer to her, kneeling down in front of her. "Don't worry, it will be just like last time. Do you know what the best part is?" Haruhi glared at him, so he continued merrily. "That's right! Once pregnant, you can't have an abortion without corrupting further chances."

"Why are you even doing this! Why does my life so entertaining to you!"  
"Because your father took the love of my life away." He smiled.  
Haruhi froze. "…I don't understand. That has nothing to do with me."  
"If your bastard father never showed, you'd be my very own daughter."

Her skin began to crawl. "So you're trying to make my life 'perfect' by destroying it?"

"Good Heavens no! I don't want to destroy it! All little girls what a family to call their own! These disgusting witches wanted it to! They are the pregnant bunch that I've been breeding so they can have their own happy life!" When he pointed at them, they flinched in fear. "The other twenty girl are in the other room, just waiting for me to get back to them. But you? Oh no, no, no… you're special, Haru-chan. You have—"

"He's my brother! That's incest!"  
"No it isn't, you're adopted! It's legal!"  
"I—" Haruhi did not know what to say now.

"But… I'm disappointed in that boy," he frowned. "He doesn't care about you, otherwise, he would have been here by now, and would have killed me." With a weak sigh, he stood back up. "Maybe you're right, maybe he doesn't love you anymore. "That's why I'll make a deal with you!" His hands clasped together. "Once your Prince comes to rescue you, I will gladly give you your adorable little baby girl, kay?"

"How do I know you won't kill him! How do I know you won't hurt him or my friends and family!"

"Because, my sweet little Haru-chan… that would make you unhappy." He walked out of the cage and locked it. "What kind of Daddy would I be to kill the man that will one day marry my pretty little girl?" With that said, he placed the key in his pocket, and walked away, whistling a happy tune as he left.

Haruhi could not process everything that he just told her, but she knew what was going to happen sooner or later. The only thing she could do is pray that her big brother would be able to find her. She hoped that Tamaki was okay and the shot to the arm was not that bad. However, she had focus on what was in front of her, and that was a group of five, terrified, pregnant girls across the room from her in the other cage. It hurt, but she managed to scoot herself toward the front of the cage to get as close as possible to them.

"Are you girls okay?"

"I-I'm scared…" The youngest of them bunch cried.  
She frowned at this, "I know… but my brother should be here soon."  
"B-But we've been here for a month now! No one will find us!" Another cried.  
"…you're the missing girls…" It was hard to see them in the dim light.  
"S-Someone's looking for us?" The assumingly eldest of them asked.

"Yes—police have been looking all over for you. I thought it was a bad coincidence that your parents were killed and you disappeared." Haruhi reached out to their cage, but it was too far for her. "This is all my fault, if I had only dealt with these monsters—" All five girls reached out of the cage and held her hand.

"It's not your fault, it's his."

* * *

**A/N:** Yes... I know that this will be very ridiculous. But, does ANYONE play Chefville on Facebook? Seriously. I need like... 10 people who play it everyday.

IF I CAN GET 10 PEOPLE TO PM ME TO SAY THAT THEY PLAY IT, AND I ADD THEM, I'LL POST CHAPTER 11 ASAP!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** I'm only posting this chapter because I'm in a really good mood. It's my birthday (and my brother's who is 20 years younger than me), and I got SNOW this morning!

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

After a long week of waiting, Haruhi had started getting doubts of being rescued by her brother; each day was the same the day after she arrived. But now it was two weeks—which felt like two months. All the girls were scared for their future in the facility that they were in, especially those that were pregnant, they were anywhere between five to six weeks pregnant, and Haruhi had a bad feeling for her own reasons, too. There was a chance that she was pregnant, but she did not want to think about it because these girls needed her. She had convinced Yamamoto Arata to let her stay with the girls that were pregnant since he would not let her near the ones that still needed to be impregnated…

"Haru-mama," the youngest girl that was only eight years old, cuddling in Haruhi's lap, called quietly. "Do you think we'll be able to get out alive?" A hand began to caress through her black strands of hair. "Huh?"  
"Yes, we'll get out alive, I promise." Her tone a slightly deadpanned, but she was positive that they would escape. "I need to know where he has my daughter… after that, I'll free all of you." She kissed her head.  
The others all looked at her, even the eldest who was only eleven years old. "Do you have a weapon that he doesn't know about?" Haruhi looked at her confidently, and the girls began looking everywhere. "B—"  
"Me." She whispered. "My leg is healing properly, and I know martial arts." Her eyes closed. "If anything, I can buy you all time to escape and get away from this horrible place. I just need to find my daughter."

"Can't you go to the place where you last saw her?" The youngest, Aiko, asked curiously.  
"I was blindfolded. All I remember is a set of train tracks… and the smell of bad seafood."  
She sat up. "How long between the tracks and the yucky seafood? Is it about a three minute drive?"  
"…possibly. It seemed like two, to me." Haruhi tried to remember. "There was a lot of children after it."  
"That's my school! I know exactly where you're talking about! That's the route from home to school!"  
The eleven year-old, Kairi, looked at her in suspicion, "you're kidding, right? That's a little too convenient."

"No, it's true! From my apartment, you go down the stairs, straight for four blocks before you pass the train station, then after you pass the supermarket is an old smelly shop that doesn't want to be taken down!" The more Aiko spoke of the directions, the more it started to click in Haruhi's head. "Then two—"

"Two blocks down to the right is an elementary school." Haruhi finished for her, all of the girls began to nod as they also connected the dots. "You… you all went to that school too?" They nodded. She started to think a little more and recalled a street, and everything clicked in her head. "…I know where she is."

"Where who is?" Arata asked casually as he made his way to the girls. "Are we plotting something?"

"My daughter, I know where she is, but it doesn't matter because I'm stuck here." Haruhi answered almost bitterly, then looked at the girl at his side in his grasp. "You got another girl pregnant already?" There were seven girls already in the cage with her, and he threw the eighth in with them. "Isn't this enough!"

"Of course not, they need to be punished my dear!" He smiled happily. "Now, off to another round."

Damn, at this rate, no one would be able to get away. "Wait, Father." He stopped to look at her curious; he enjoyed hearing her call him this. It was almost a sure way to get what she wanted. "These girls are pregnant—that's punishment enough. Let them go, and I'll stay here. Is that okay? You punished these girls enough." Haruhi watched the wheels turning in his head, debating on her request. "Just let them go, and I promise that I won't leave your side… just… let these girls go, safe and unharmed… please…"

"I'll think about it." With that, he waved his hand as he left.

Aiko looked up at her, holding onto her tightly. "I don't want to leave you hear with that man…" The others either nodded or whispered in agreement to this. "If you stay here… then me too. I want to stay and f—"  
"But if you stay here, how are we going to find help?" They all stopped to listen. "You are the youngest of us all, and you're the smallest here. If we can slip you out, then you can get help for—" the door opened.  
"Sorry my sweet little Haru-chan, I thought it over and realized that, by letting them go, they would call the police once they fled." Arata smiled softly. "Unless you can think of a better solution to rid of this trash?"  
"Let Aiko-chan go, she's malnourished and needs proper care. Blind fold her and take her home. She wouldn't know how to get back to this place even if she wanted to." Hopefully, this idea would work then.

It did not take him that long to answer. "Fine… I'll go get her clothes." With that, he left.

Once the door closed, Haruhi knelt down to the little girl. "Listen to me very, _very_ carefully, okay? You need to find Morinozuka Takashi. Go home, call the police, and say you found the Morinozuka daughter, and you need to see him. When you talk to him, say 'Nii-sama." Aiko became teary eyed as she nodded. "Good girl, now… I want you to keep your eyes closed and your mind opened when he covers your eyes. Okay? Memorize the time it takes to a smell or a bump in the round. Listen for noises and unfamiliar sounds. Count how many seconds and how many turns you take, okay?" She nodded again, sobbing.

The door opened, "quit whining!" He threw the clothes at the cage. "Get her dressed and blindfolded."

Haruhi got her dressed and covered her eyes, trusting her with their lives.

* * *

Nothing had changed for three long, aching weeks.

Takashi was pacing back and forth angrily as Kyouya sat at the dining table with a map of Japan in front of him with the twins looking over his shoulders. Mitsukuni was also becoming a bit of a threat as his eyes seemed to be getting darker by the day without Haruhi present. Tamaki—while still recovering, sat in a corner of woe while trying to remember any little hint that could help them figure out where the man took her. Hikaru continued making suggestions about what type of place he would have her, but Kyouya stated that it would have to be something of meaning to Onishi Naoya. Kaoru offered that it would be a location that no one would think to look, and that was the problem because no one knew where that would be.

"It doesn't seem right." Kyouya growled. "Is there someone else helping him?" He tried to think, but his head throbbed and pulled out some pictures of the man, but a photo copy from the hospital, and a zoomed in, enhanced still-photo from the camera in the third music room. "His attire if off… from casual to erratic dysfunctional wardrobe wear—" Hikaru and Kaoru slammed their hands on the table. "Now what?"

"Why didn't you show us these pictures before!" They yelled in unison before pointing at the two pictures. "This isn't the same guy!" Everyone one huddled closely to look at the picture, but did not see a difference between the faces. "Kyouya-senpai, is there a chance that this guy has a twin? That's the only answer!"

"The chances of that being possible is almost _impossible_."

Mitsukuni finally spoke, and it was darkly. "That means there's a chance to make it _possible_."

Everyone tried to debate whether there was a chance that the man had a brother, which instantly led Kyouya to do an investigation review on his laptop at his side. Nothing made sense; there was no information about any siblings, let alone a twin. Then there was the question as to why twins want anything to do with Haruhi—other than the physical power of subduing her. It did not seem like he wanted money because they would have received a ransom the day that he took her from school. What if there was a chance that he did more than shoot her in the leg—no, he had never killed anyone. But if there really was a twin, had that man killed her instead? The pressure of finding anything was hurting his head.

"Taka-nii!" "Nii-san!"

Hearing the younger brothers calling from the entertainment room down the hall, the older siblings ran to see if they had found any clues about Haruhi. The others were easily hot on their heels in hopes for a miracle, but the two middle school boys were watching the news. Mitsukuni was just about to scold them for bringing them out of their little meeting to find Haruhi, but they both pointed at the television flat screen that was mounted on the wall. There was a little girl, screaming and crying Takashi's name, saying that she had to find him… saying that he had to save someone that she was calling 'Haru-mama.'

"Maybe it's a hoax?" Kaoru offered lightly.

Satoshi glared and rolled his eyes. "Look closely—Taka-nii, doesn't she look like Haru-nee at that age?"  
"He's right…" It was like a blast from the past to Mitsukuni. "I almost couldn't tell—she's covered in blood."  
Kyouya thought about it for a moment. "Regardless if he has a twin, it's possible he has a 'Haruhi Fetish.'"  
"What do you mean?" Hikaru looked at him; not liking the suggestion of someone having a fetish like that.

_"No! I have to find Nii-sama! Nii-sama has to find Haru-mama. The bad man promised to let everyone go!"_ The reports were claiming that that eight year-old girl was pregnant, and that her parents—although relieved of her return, are unhappy about the situation, and were going to take her to the main hospital. _"Morinozuka Takashi! I have to find him! He has to save her before it's too late for the others too!"_

Takashi looked to a butler in sight. "You," his voice dripped with malice. "Get a car ready." He turned around and headed out towards the entry room, grabbing a long coat in the process. "I'm going there."

"Wait," Kyouya stopped him for the moment. Takashi gave him a deadly look. "It's obvious that the girl is terrified. If you think of how scared Haruhi is, then going in the condition you're in would not help anything. You need to calm down and be a gentlemen to her." With that said, He gave him a folder. "There are pictures in here, of Haruhi and the man who we believe is the kidnapper. We'll follow you in another car."

He opened the folder to see the bastard's face, then to the next page to calm down at Haruhi's picture. "Go Takashi," Mitsukuni spoke a little nicer than earlier. The giant looked at him. "We'll be in the waiting room when you come out. The cars will wait for us in case she knows the exact location for us." Takashi nodded at the plan and started to leave, only to stop to look at Tamaki long and hard for some reason.

It took a good ten seconds before he could even speak. "Come with me."  
Tamaki panicked. "N-No, I couldn't. If I jeopardize the chance of finding Haruhi—"  
"You're better with kids than I am." Not taking any objections, he grabbed him and left.

Once the two were gone, the Host Club and the two other boys stood there in silence for a moment. No one knew what to say—no one knew whether this was a trap or not. Was she bait to lure them into false hope of finding her? Is it possible that this was to draw them out and kill them? There were not many things that were making sense. The girl claimed that there were others trapped somewhere—not just Haruhi. So how did the girl escape, how did she manage to get away and live to tell the tale?

Kyouya was tired of thinking and walked quickly to the dining room, grabbed the maps, notebooks, cell phone, laptop, folders, and began storming out of the Morinozuka estate. Everyone followed him as Akira stood at the top of the stairs… watching as the group looked like they found a clue. As much as he wanted to save his daughter, he knew that Takashi and Satoshi needed to earn her trust and love more than he did. Still…he too wanted to search for her, so he walked down the stairs, grabbed his coat, and left to do what he could as her father… but he needed leads, too. Therefore, he followed the other cars.

"Wait for us… Haruhi."

* * *

Arata entered the room toward the cage that Haruhi and the pregnant girls were in. "You may have sent her to tell her where this location was. But it wasn't very smart." He had a towel in hand, wiping the blood off without much care in the world. "You see… I had to be rough with her because of that. Had to knock her unconscious by bashing her head into the dashboard before I could inject her with a bag of powerful anesthesia to keep her occupied for the week's travel. It's your fault that I had to be rough with her—but I completely understand! You wanted to trick her so that she would be punished for her sins!"

"No!" Haruhi jumped up to her feet, grabbing the bars of the cage. "What did you do to her!"  
"Don't be mad, I did what you said, Haru-chan. I took her home and then hurried here to you."  
"Where is here!" Her hands clenched the bars; her knuckles turned white. "Where am I!"  
"Ah, ah, all in due time. After all, I'm planning a celebration. I want to give you something."  
"All I want is my daughter! I said I would do anything that you want! Haven't I been obedient!"

"Yes, my dear, sweet Haru-chan." He came over and placed his colds hands on her face. "Ah… if only we were able to have a child of our own. I wonder if you're pregnant now." Haruhi rammed her head against the bars, crushing and almost breaking his hands. "Ow… that actually hurt a little. I love that fire of yours."

"You're the reason why I have this fire!" This made him grin in a sinister manner.  
His head tilted curiously. "Shall we go into that room now, make sure you get pregnant?"  
"Tch… how much are you supplied with…" Haruhi bit her tongue to bide her time. "No thanks."  
"You're right, you're most likely pregnant by now." He patted her hand. "You'll be a mommy again soon."

As he turned to leave, she wanted to grab him and bash his head into the metal bars, but she had to bide her time just a little longer. Hopefully, Aiko had managed to make contact with Takashi, if she was truly alive and conscious. Her leg began to feel heavy. The girls began telling her that it was bleeding heavily from over exerting herself to her limits. They managed to force her down to sit before it got any worse than it was. It was discolored and unruly; blackened and bruised from the most-likely non-professional manner that the bullet was removed from her leg. She could not tell if he was a doctor too—if memory served her right, he studied under his brother and learned from him.

"If he's telling the truth… then maybe..." Haruhi sighed in frustration. "We'll get out of here soon…"  
"But if Ai-chan was unconscious for the ride home, how will she be able to lead your brother here?" The newly pregnant girl, Suzuki, was concerned about putting in faith in her family. "Do you trust that girl?  
"I do, but my brother has a keen sense of smell." She stared at the ceiling. "If they don't come, I'll kill…"

The girls exchanged glances before looking at her to see her closing her eyes.

They all then heard a girl scream and cry for mercy, and this made her blood boil. If any of the girls wanted a chance at a normal life, she would have to act within the next week upon the situation. She was hoping that she would not have to put herself in danger, but here she was, _trying_ to put faith in her big brother to save her. Haruhi wanted to trust her big brother to come on time—to save her from the pain and nightmare, but honestly… being pinned down every day for a week, was that _not_ the nightmare? Her doubts of rescue began to dampen her Spirit as she recalled that he was always a moment too late.

What if he was going to be a moment too late to save her this time?

Her heart would not be able to take it if he did not come in the next two days.

She hoped to whatever God that was listening, that Aiko was okay—that was all that mattered at the moment. That little girl might be their only way out safely. If not, she would do whatever was necessary to protect the girls, and free them from this prison. It would not be long until she snapped under the pressure of protecting the girls, getting free, and finding a way to protect herself at the chance of being pregnant.

"Damn it…" Haruhi exhaled heavily before she shifted a bit to rest. "Hurry up… Nii-sama…"

The girls huddled around her to keep warm as the all slept and took a nap with her; something that she was getting used to. In fact, if not for the company these past few weeks, she would have probably shut down and reverted back into her old ways before she ever met the others from the Host Club. Thinking back on it, she almost wished to see everyone's smiling faces again—if for one last time to thank them.

Her eyelids grew heavy, and fell asleep with the girls.

* * *

Once finding out what room she was in, there was no stopping him…

"Sir! You can't go in there! Sir—" A doctor was thrown across the room by the giant senior student.  
Tamaki gulped nervously at the anger coursing through Takashi, and looked to the doctor. "S-Sorry!"  
Takashi entered the room without permission, and the girl's parents stood up. "Who are you? Get out!"  
To protect them from harm, the Host King wedged himself into the room. "Please wait, we need to ask—"  
"Get out of here before I call security! Isn't it bad enough that this retched child can't get an abortion!"

The father was edging into dangerous territory, but Takashi ignored them and knelt at the girl's bedside.

Aiko was terrified of him, and it reminded him everything about Haruhi and how frightened she was after what happened to her. All the anger flushed out of his system when seeing her tears. He wanted to wipe them away, but knew not to touch her or else worsen the chances of finding his little sister. To gain her trust, he brought out his student identification card to let her see his name, which made her lighten up. It was a good start despite her sobbing; she was so happy that he was there, as if everything would be fine.

"H-Haru-mama s-said y-you c-c-c-can help?"

Takashi pulled out a picture of Haruhi, and showed it to the girl. "Is this her?"  
She nodded weakly. "B-B-But she h-has a b-black eye on her l-left eye."  
They were hitting her? Trying to stay in control, he asked. "Is she okay?"  
"S-She was protecting u-us! H-He's r-really scary! Y-You have t-t-to save them!"  
"There are more children? Are they all girls?" She nodded. "Do you know where?"

"Someone knocked on our apartment door. When I opened it, I found her on the floor unconscious, and a black car speeding off." The mother explained quietly. "I wasn't paying too much attention, I was just h—"  
"Shut up, you know she asked for it." The father scowled. "Always talking about wanting a family and—"  
Takashi stood up, reached over the bed, grabbed him by the shirt, and punched him in the face. "She did _not_ ask for this." He turned his attention to the girl, back to kneeling. "Can you tell me anything?"

"C-C-Cigarettes… it a-always smelt like c-cigarettes…" she sniffled; trying to stop crying. Aiko did not even acknowledge that her father was hit. "H-He's a-always drinking s-smelly stuff." Takashi started to pull out the picture of the man, but Tamaki cleared his throat. The giant looked at him, and he shook his head. "T-The day H-Haru-mama arrived… t-they acted f-familiar." Her hands came up, wiping her eyes.

So was it possible that it was just that one man? "What do you mean? W—"

Tamaki intervened as he heard slight dominance in the upper classmate's voice. "Did they talk funny?" Aiko gasped as she turned to look at the blond-haired visitor. She flung away and embraced Takashi for dear life. "Go away! Don't hurt me! Please! Stop! Go away!" Her sobbing increased and her hold, tighter.  
"She's always afraid of her father, please don't take it to heart." The mother frowned. "I don't understand."

"I do," Takashi responded, holding the girl in his arms. He nudged the little girl weakly while trying what Tamaki said. "Did they talk funny?" She nodded as she tried to calm down. "Did they act like they knew each other?" Again, she nodded. "Did Haruhi ever say a name? Did he ever say his name by chance?"

"Y-Y-Yamam—moto A-A-Ara—t-ta…" Aiko looked at him. "I-It was r-really c-confusing… H-H-Haru-mama told u-us t-that he was t-the one b-behind it all…" She sniffled as her nose became runny. "H-He used h-his b-brother a-and friends…" Takashi and Tamaki both were surprised by all this lifting news. "H-He s-said that… if y-you s-save her… h-he'll g-g-give back h-her d-d-d-d-daughter! S-Save Haru-mama!"

"…so he _does _have a twin." Tamaki could not believe it. He looked to Takashi. "I'll tell Kyouya!" He fled.  
Takashi set her down on the hospital bed to leave, but she clung to his arm. "I-I want t-t—to h-help you!"  
"You done a lot, Haruhi will be very proud with how brave you were." He smiled. "I'll have her visit you."  
"Y-You'll save her and the o-others r-r-right?" The giant nodded and patter her head before leaving. "A—!"

Although he wanted to hurry up to find her, there was a chance that she could give him more clues.

"D-Dirt!" He looked at her confusedly. "H-Haru-mama said to use my senses! Dirt and flowers! Something was burning my nose when was leading me to a car when I was blindfolded." Aiko tried to remember more. "The ground went from stones inside… then… leaves crunched a-and hurt my feet, b-but I think the stones stayed the same! A-And the door! I-It sound r-really heavy because h-he grunted when o-opening and closing it…" The girl closed her eyes to concentrate more; her crying and sniffling ceased. "One… two… three… four… five…" Her head shifted to the right. "There's a lady crying, and a man saying weird things that I can't understand… he sounds like a man at a church!" As she continued remember, she started to count again. Her hand came out a bit—it looked as if tugged her hand back as she said her twelfth step. "It's cold and hard… like stone—" She jumped as if something spooked her. "T-That crow is s-scary! I-Is it watching me? I can't—"

Takashi snapped his fingers in front of her; knowing that this would bring her out of her concentration.

She looked left and right, then toward him. "D-Does that help?"

"Yes, I know where to start looking." He patted her on the head, grabbed the folder, and ran out of the room. Doctors and nursed yelled at him to walk, but he ran to the waiting room and interrupted Tamaki as he was trying to explain what he heard the girl say to help their investigation further. "Graveyard!" Takashi panted as they looked at him—even other random people, plus news reporters. "The place she was describing, it _has_ to be a graveyard! We have to spread out and search all throughout the country!"

Not even questioning his judgment, Kyouya began to make plans for expanding their search.

Too enthused by the discovery…

Takashi failed to tell Kyouya and the others, the name of the man…

It led to the most important question of all: Was Suoh Tamaki able to tell their friends the man's name?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

Kyouya set his glasses down and rubbed his face tiredly as they all found themselves back to square one at the Morinozuka estate after the week of searching every shrine and cemetery they could find. They could not locate any sign or trace of Haruhi anywhere, and it was beginning to make them worried all over again as they started to lose hope. Takashi had just came back from checking on the girl to find out that her father was completely rejecting her because of her pregnancy. It was hard for him to handle when he could only imagine the fear and panic within her that she was trying to hide bravely.

"Any new information?" The Shadow King asked tiredly.  
"She repeats her story of the location." Takashi answered plainly.  
"You and Tama-chan said the man's name is Yamamoto Arata, right?" Mitsukuni questioned.  
Tamaki nodded quietly as he began to answer. "Yes… and that his brother was practically his puppet."

"Regardless, there's hundreds of Yamamoto in the country, and his surname is quite common. If we could locate his brother and run a DNA test—or even a finger print, we might be able to narrow the search by a fraction." Despite three days of no sleep, he opened his laptop and used a different internet browser than normal. "There might even be the slightest chance that the syllables are different—or whether or not it's his real name." His head dipped for a brief second as he tried to think. "Then there's variations of key—"

"Kyouya," Takashi interrupted. "Go rest in the guest room."  
He snorted at the offer. "None of us has slept the past few days."  
The twins could not fight back their yawn. "We need to find Haruhi."  
"But we'll miss something if we're all tired." Mitsukuni admitted bitterly.  
"And there's a chance that she could get hurt if we sleep." Tamaki frowned.

"We'll look for a while." Satoshi called from the entryway from the dining room where they were having a meeting like usual. Yasuchika was at his side, also concerned. "You guys rest. We'll look for any clues."

The high school students felt relieved to hear that their investigation could continue while they shut their eyes for a few minutes. Hikaru and Kaoru were the first to agree to the plan by lying down on the marble floor—passing out instantly. Mitsukuni climbed up on the table and fell asleep with Usa-chan in hand. Tamaki used four chairs to form a bed before going to sleep. All of them wanted to be there when someone found something. After Kyouya passed them the laptop, he crossed his arm and lowered his head for a quick catnap—then a phone rang. Everyone jolted up and tried to find out who's it was.

It was the giant's phone, and he answered. "Hello?" The number was foreign to him.  
_"This is Taka-nii-sama, right?"_ His brows knitted at the little girl's voice. _"You said I could call?"_  
"Yes, are you okay?" He had just given her his cell phone number today. She hummed softly.  
_"I was trying to recall the day Haru-mama arrived, and I started to remember something that she said."_  
"You remember something that she said?" He grabbed a pen and paper, and put the phone on speaker.

_"They talked a lot when she woke up. But I remember Onishi Naoya because you transferred me to this big hospital under the Ohtori name. She said it was an alien to Sudo… Tomi? That he was a doctor that studied in China. The bad guy's brother used these names to protect himself so he could do bad things."_

"Alien?" Takashi looked at the two names that he put on a piece of paper. Then how she mention that they were names to protect his identity. "Do you mean alias?" The girl chimed at the correction instantly.  
_"That's the word Haru-mama used! And she was saying something weird about the Onishi name… something about his papa and his mama's name being combined… I think… his papa killed his mama…"_  
Something clicked for Kyouya and instantly took the pen and paper away from Takashi to write down Yamamoto Arata's family name with the surname of the main alias. "Ask her if 'Tanaka' sound familiar."  
Takashi nodded. "Aiko, did either of them mention the name, Tanaka, while you were there?" There was a long silence; everyone began waiting on held breaths. "Aiko, can you hear me? Did they say that n—"  
_"H-Haru-mama said it that day, and she told us he killed him…"_ She started to sniffle. _"H-He gave H-Haru-Mama a black eye w-when s-she compared h-him to t-that name."_ Aiko began to cry at the memory.

"Calm her down, I need more time." With the new information, Kyouya had an adrenaline rush to find out the new connections. He remembered the case when reading a certain article. As he looked for it, Takashi tried to soothe the upset girl. "Found it, Yamamoto Naoya murdered his loving wife, Onishi Sakura, all because she bared him sons and not daughters. The pedophile traits went to his sons judging by our present predicament." As he continued researching quickly, he jumped into a quick find and looked up 'China,' only to find a lot of information. "Senpai, you said that she heard a man speak a language she did not understand… ask her if she can remember anything the man said."

"Aiko," Takashi tried to sound patient, but he was getting antsy to know what Kyouya was getting at. "Do you remember when you were leaving with the bad man? Can you tell me if you can remember anything he said? Was there something that caught your attention?" She hummed agreeably. "What was it?"

_"…may… guren?"_ She was having trouble with it. _"…I-I don't know… it was hard to understand!"_

Instantly, Kyouya brought up a translation and typed in what he thought she was trying to say. After he arranged the voice to be a male, he plated the voice to say 'Měi gèrén,' which was 'everyone' in Chinese, to be more specific… Mandarin. The girl beamed as she declared how that was what the man said in the very beginning. All eyes went to Kyouya—wanting to know what all of this meant. There was good news, and there was bad news. The Shadow King rubbed his temples lightly as he told Takashi to get off the phone with the girl, and that she helped them a lot. Takashi obeyed, thanking her for her good work.

The call ended, and Kyouya spoke. "The good news is… I think I know where she is."  
Before anyone could cheer at the magic that Kyouya performed, Takashi asked. "What's the bad news?"  
He looked up at the giant. "Finding her will be a lot harder. To find her quickly… we would need help."  
"What? Why? We searched through Japan within a week's time." Tamaki whined. "Where do we start!"  
"China." Everyone froze. "The country is too big, even for us, if we want to make it to her just in time."  
Mitsukuni thought about it for a moment, "maybe we can ask the Host Club customers to help us?"  
"It's true that they're okay with Haruhi being a girl." Hikaru hummed aloud. "They would definitely help.  
Kaoru frowned. "But there's a chance that they might get caught, and might suffer the same as Haruhi."  
"Well, it's either rape or death! I don't care anymore, I want to find her!" He began getting agitated again.

"S-Sir, you can't come in here!" The heard a maid cry out.

A long red-haired freshman walked to the entryway, crossed his arms, and asked. "Need help?"

* * *

It was the final straw.

She was tired of being a 'Princess' locked away, waiting for her 'Prince' to show up and rescue her and the others. The girls could not hold out much longer if they wanted a chance at what part of a normal life they could salvage. Her leg felt a bit better, but it was enough to be able to walk out alive, hopefully. It was only going to be a matter of time before he came in and told her that she needed to be tested for whether or not she was pregnant. All the girls were told that they were going to leave the horrid place, _today_, and this filled them with hope. There was already a plan for what would happen and where they would go. They would go get the girls that were on the other side of that door while she gets rid of him—

The door opened, the girls jumped in fear. "Haaaaruuuu-chaaaan, let's find out if you're pregnant!" Haruhi stood up and fumbled on her leg; acting as if it was still wounded and quite possibly infected. "Oh no! Why didn't you tell me that your leg was hurting you!" He unlocked the cage and opened it. "Haru—"

With her wounded leg, she kicked him between the legs where he would definitely not be producing children again. He fell to the floor on his knees, and she placed her hands on his cheeks, smiling. As he smiled back, she snapped his neck, and released him to watch his lifeless body fall to the floor. The girls were scared at the dead man lying there as Haruhi padded him down and found a gun tucked in his pants. Haruhi collected the weapon and motioned the girls to put the plan in motion immediately. They ran out of the cage and bolted through the door—further scaring the other girls until they were relieved to see those they thought they would never see again. A grand total of thirty-seven girls were free and now under Haruhi's protection, but now her leg gave her problems after violently using it on the man.

"We need clothes." She looked around and saw a chest, so she wobbled over to open it. There were clothes scattered throughout it. "Well, I found my uniform." She grabbed her clothes and got dressed.

The others grabbed their clothes and changed into what they last wore before they arrived here. When they were all dressed to leave, it was time for them to escape before they found out whether or not the guy had any help in bringing them to the place. It was a good thing that this place did not seem very big, otherwise, they would have a tough time getting out. To make sure things would be a little easier with they left, she checked her pocket to see that she had her cell phone and her wallet, this was a very good sign for things to go a little smoother. When everyone was ready, it was time to move out.

"Everyone, let's go." Haruhi limped towards the other door that was rarely used, and the girls followed her closely. A man appeared and yelled about them escaping, but she shot him, and he fell to the floor. She no longer cared who she killed; they would get out of there alive no matter what the cost. "Great," her attention went to the long line of fifty steps to go to the next level up; they must be in a basement. "Stairs."

"We'll help you." Two girls went under her arms and helped her up the stairs until they were on even grounds in front of a door. "I'll open it," one of them stated while doing what she said, and they were greeted by bright sunlight and fresh air. "Freedom!" She cried out happily, then noticed. "Where are we?"

Haruhi snorted. "The cemetery of which his parents were buried in." She sighed almost bitterly. "Which means that we're in China… just great." Her attention went left and right for clues to where they should go.  
"Shouldn't we call your brother to help us now? Does anyone have a phone, or money?" A girl asked.  
"We got out on our own, will get home on our own." Weakly, she turned to the other girls. "Is everyone here from Japan?" They all nodded. "Then—" she cringed at her leg as she began to walk. "Let's go."  
Two girls placed her arms around their shoulders so that they could help her walk. "Where are we going?"  
"There's a landing strip not far from here. If we're lucky, there might be a plane or a jet there that can fly us home. We're not too far away from Shanghai if I remember correctly." Haruhi answered, cringing.  
One of the two girls looked at her leg, "H-Haru-san, you're bleeding! We need to stop and treat it and—"

"We're going home." Her tone was firm, but gentle. "I want to go home, and sleep in my bed." Just as they helped her take another step, a truck honked at them and it was a man with a dirty grin flashing their way.  
"You kiddies need a ride—" As soon as Haruhi pointed the gun at his face, he swallowed hard, shakily.  
"How far is the closest airport." He answered that it was two kilometers downtown. "You will take all of us to the airport, and I'll pay you with money for your services. Understand?" He nodded. "Everyone, get on."  
The girls squeezed into the back of the truck, and Haruhi sat in the passenger seat inside to make sure that this man would not pull any stunts. He saw how bad her leg was. "You should get that checked…"

"Although I am amazed that you have the capability to speak Japanese, I'm in no need of medical assistance from you or any other man." Her free hand reached to the gunshot wound and applied pressure. "To put you at ease of the fact that we are not some cult. We are girls that were kidnapped from Japan by a psychotic pedophile. Half of us are pregnant, some might be pregnant, some were only raped, and the very few remaining may have some dignity." Haruhi saw from the corner of her eye to see that the man had to swallow this information fast, and she half-laughed at the expression on his face. "If you think about crossing us, I'll kill you. If you think about going to the police, I won't be charged. If you—"

"I'll take you to the airport." He interrupted softly while bringing his gaze to the road. "You're… Morinozuka Haruhi, aren't you?" She notched the hammer on the gun. "There was a broadcast this morning with the kid by the name of Morinozuka Takashi, saying that you were abducted and held captive in this area. He demanded if anyone knew anything about you, to call him immediately. If you want to call him, my phone is there on the dashboard." Haruhi made no indication of taking the offer. "Don't want to tell the guy?"

"It's of no importance to you, my brother will find out that I'm more than capable of getting myself out of bad situations." She had to really think for a moment about the situation. "Do you intend to call him?"

"Is that what you want me to do?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye to see her scowling. "It's one thing if I heard a rumor or saw something. Now that I'm involved, helping you get home, I don't have to stick my nose in any deeper than it already is. Besides," he rolled up his right sleeve to reveal a prosthetic arm from elbow down, "I lost what dignity I had ten years back. Taking my innocence, and half my arm with it." Haruhi began to loosen lightly, but still had a dangerous look in her eye. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? If some are pregnant… they might be able to go home without the thought of being disowned by their families. Like that Aiko girl—"

"What do you know about the girl?" Haruhi became alert and dead serious.

"Still pregnant, her father is rejecting her, and her mother can't fight her father too easily. It was on the news the day she was found at her apartment." The man lowered his sleeve slowly. "That's all I know."

Now she had to think of things carefully. "If my brother's coming to China, he'll find out I'm at a hospital."  
"Not if you send him on a detour. _If_ I called him and say I saw that man that had you captive, he would probably go to the location that I sent him to." He glanced at her before looking at the road. "It's a shot."  
Her façade returned; dangerous as ever no less. "I'm sure there's a reward for any information you can give him on me—and an even greater reward if I'm delivered. So what makes you think that I'll trust you?"  
"If I did that… you wouldn't pay me, right?" The man chuckled. "By the way, my name is Haruno Misaki."

"By telling me your name, I could financially destroy you, and worse."

"Worse?" Misaki looked at her curiously before smirking and turning his attention to the road again. "No, nothing could be worse than losing my arm and my pride to that Yamamoto Naoya bastard." His head shook the thought away. "Besides… it's hard to get a job with one arm. Ya know, not many people want a guy like me with my disability, and I get a little spooked by guys sometimes." It the dawned on him about his actions earlier. "I'm sorry about our first encounter. It's easier for me to be myself in front of girls. They either pity me, or actually care for me and about me. Plus, it's hard to find a job I'm comfortable with."

Haruhi hummed bitterly at this. "Will I and these girls fall tragedy to the same, similar fate… I wonder…"

"What's important is that you have your life—and your limbs." He watched her crack a weak smile.  
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you in this country?" Without knowing, she lowered the gun.  
His left hand clutched the steering wheel. "That bastard brought me here… to a shack in the hills."  
"If it's any condolence, he's dead, and so are his two sons. One killed the other, and I killed the one."  
Misaki looked at her briefly as if to see if she were seriously. It was then that he muttered. "Small world."

They were silent for a moment, "Haruno," she spoke. "Can you take us to the hospital?" He nodded once. "May I use your phone to have them prepared?" Again, he nodded. Haruhi took the phone and alerted the hospital that there would be almost forty girls coming in, and that majority were raped and pregnant. They thought it was a joke at first until she stated who she was and that she demanded the utmost silence about the situation, meaning that she would ruin the hospital if they dared to try calling Takashi. She hung up after everything was arranged. "It should take an hour to deal with the girls. Will you wait that long?"

"Is that what you want." She nodded. "This I guess I'll wait for you all to come back out, Morinozuka-san."  
"When we're in, and the girls assigned to doctors, call my brother to put your plan into motion."  
"Instead of the cemetery where you girls were, I'll give him the location of the shack to give you time."  
Her head nodded once more as she arranged another call. "I'll have the airport prepare a flight in—"  
"No need. I got a pal that dealt with the same stuff we did, he's a pilot now. I know he'll take you home."  
"You have a friend with his own aircraft?" She watched him smile. "I see… then I'll pay the both of you."

"The payment is the fact that you're alive and breathing. To go through the things you've been through, it's a miracle that you're alive." It took him a second longer to debate if he wanted to add. "Besides… it looks like there's still hope for you to trust in the opposite gender." Haruhi looked at him confusedly. "The gun, you set it aside when you took the phone. Had you still been wary of me, you wouldn't have done it."

"Don't get cocky, Haruno." She put up a wall around herself instantly. "I set it down because it would be difficult to do anything to me with one arm while the other attempts to steer, poorly." She lied easily.

Misaki did not mind at all—he knew that she was lying in order to protect herself.

* * *

It was a miracle, the young men walked off the jet, and Takashi received a phone call with a clue.

…a fake clue.

* * *

It was hard to keep the doctors away from her wounded leg…

All of the girls that were pregnant had an abortion in fear of what their family and friends would say about them, but the process took nearly two hours. They were racing against the clock because it would not be long until Takashi realized that the helpful hint was a hoax and assume it was Yamamoto Arata that called to buy time to relocate. Regardless, they arrived at a rundown airport where a plane was waiting for them as promised. It was refreshing to find others that legitimately wanted to help for the sake of doing something good for someone else. As the plane started and started to gear up for the running start, the girls were all safely seated, and Misaki turned away to go back to his truck—

"Haruno!" Haruhi called out over the loud engine. He turned to look at her curious—only to be stunned to see her offering a hand out to him. "Come with us!" Misaki seemed confused at this. "Come work for me!"

His thinking was cut short when a car sped down the one-lane dirt road; it was no doubt Takashi and the rest of the Host Club, tracking his phone. He ran over to the plane and gave her his good hand to help him into the plane before someone probably shot at him. Haruhi pulled him in safely and stared at the car that was approximately twenty-five yards away from the now moving plane. She stood there long enough to watch her brother step out of the car along with some friends before shaking her head and closing the door. It was too late to save her, she had to save herself, and it was going to be hard to depend on him.

After locking the door shut, she came over to an empty chair, and fell asleep peacefully for the first time…

In a very, long, time…

It did not last, though, as they made it to Tokyo in almost three hours with a little bit of a delay. As they landed, the Ohtori's private police force were waiting for them, and the sight of so many males made her become alert and wary. The only difference that separated her from being hostile was the fact that they _knew_ not to challenge her in any manner or else suffer worse consequences than being torn to pieces by Mitsukuni. Misaki opened the door slowly and the stairs became usable which was in unison to all the officers pointing their guns at the entry. That is… until they saw Haruhi walking down the steps with girls behind her… thirty-seven girls, and one grown men as the door closed and the pilot took off in fear.

"Morinozuka Haruhi-sama! Are you okay!" The chief yelled to her from the distance.

Haruhi walked toward them, making the officers a little nervous. Then she spoke, "touch any of us, and I will kill you." They all backed away. "Tell Kyouya-senpai that I'm back in Japan, no thanks to him."  
"Haruhi," A man called out—the only man that was not walking backward, and instead, forward.  
She was taken aback by the sight of him. "F-Father…" No doubt her big brother called him.  
"Haru-nee!" Satoshi cried out as he ran to her. All the girls screamed, and the scariest thing happened.

Her hand whipped out a gun, pointing it at him without a second thought.

He skidded to a halt at the sight of the weapon, but she really hurt him like that? Her eyes were glazed with an unreadable look that could not be defined—as if there was something blocking the memory of the fact that they were family. A prosthetic hand went on the gun and lowered it for everyone's safety, and she looked at him as if she would turn the gun on him. With one look into Misaki's hurt brown hues, reality began to flow through her, and she set the gun down to the concrete before kicking it away.

Satoshi wanted to run into her arms, but he stayed put with such a puffy red face from the tears. Instead, he was rewarded for his patience as she walked over and embraced him as if he were a long-lost son. He instantly sobbed on her shoulder as he kept saying her name. She only held him tighter and glanced over at their father to see a soft smile on his lips as he bowed his head as a form of welcoming her home. It was a split second later that Satoshi acknowledged the man behind her and had to ask about him.

"Who is this guy? Did he hurt you?" Hearing him sound like a protective brother made Haruhi laugh.  
"No," she answered. "This is Haruno Misaki. After we escaped, he took us to the hospital, and helped us get here." Her attention went to the man. "I asked him to return to Japan with us to work as my servant."

"That's very generous of you." Akira eyed the man somewhat suspiciously until seeing a plane swooping down and landing on the airstrip. "That must be Takashi and the others. You're timing was a bit behind."

As Takashi ran over to see if she was okay, she replied to their father almost bitterly. "Well excuse me for being _pregnant_. I was doing what I could to protect them from the chance of being rejected by parents."  
The giant stopped dead in his tricks as soon as he heard her say that she was pregnant… and to have an abortion meant no future children with the man that she loves. "This is my fault." He watched her closely.  
Not once did she look at him as she added. "I would have been here a week prior to my kidnapping, but I thought _someone_ would save me." Haruhi snorted. "I won't be making that mistake again, trust me."

Deep down, Takashi knew that by being that second too late, changed the relationship between them.

* * *

My silver lab puppy, Dakota... she's quite the handful...


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

"Haru-Mama!" Aiko cheered from her hospital bed. Her arms wide open in hopes of a hug.  
"Aiko-chan!" She hurried over and embraced the child. "I heard that you're still pregnant, is it true?"  
"Sensei said I'm too small to have it removed safely. Lots of damage can happen if they go through it."  
"And what have your parents said about this, hmm?" Her hand brushed the bangs away from her face.  
"P-Papa doesn't want anything to do with me. M-Mama can't visit much because he tells her not to."

Not caring that Takashi was watching them from the window, Haruhi painfully got up and joined her on the bed to lie beside her. He watched the two talk without knowing or hearing what it was about. However, to see a smile on her face after being home safe and sound for two days was good enough. His attention drew to the man beside him. They were the same height, same colored hair… the only difference was that Haruno Misaki had brown eyes and a lighter beige skin tone. To his understanding, it was this man who found them and took the girls to the hospital after convincing Haruhi to trust him, and managed to get her home. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was also the one that gave him the false lead to find her—

"If I may, Takashi-sama." Misaki spoke softly in case Haruhi was still on alert of her surroundings. Having brought his attention to Haruhi again, Takashi glanced at him. "Why aren't you at Haruhi-sama's side?"  
He was kidding, right? After what happened—after what he failed to do for her? "She'll reject me."  
"Perhaps alone, yes. But in front of that child in which you have a bond with, that is your opportunity to be with them—to be with Haruhi-sama without the fear of being removed from the room." His eyes closed.  
Takashi did not like that about him; he was too smart for his own good. "Haruhi is still upset that I failed."  
"More than anything, she is upset with herself." Brown hues opened to watch the girls talk with smiles. "If she had ended it as soon as possible, many of the girls would not be harmed. Like the child right there."  
"Who the Hell do you think you are—you've only known her for two days, I've known her most of her—"

"Most?" His attention drew to Takashi in surprise. It hit him, "…I see, she's adopted." He turned his gaze to the girls again. "I know what she's thinking because it was the same thing I thought was I was in a similar situation." Takashi started to understand what he meant, and joined him in watching the girls; Aiko just receieved a little doll to keep her happy. "There are many ways to adapt to what one has suffered through. Sometimes it's self-blame or self-hate, sometimes it's just easier to blame others. You know her best, so maybe you can answer my question." Again, Takashi looked at him. "Is she truly upset with you for the fact that waited for you to rescue her? Or is it possible that she is saying that she's upset with you when she's trying to cover the fact that she hates herself for allowing so many girls to get hurt, like Aiko?"

He almost laughed, but remained firm. "At this point? I don't know."

"Then you should check, else wise, you'll lose her altogether." Misaki sighed softly. "I'm going to get some water bottles for everyone." He turned to leave, but stopped. "After that bastard had his fun with me and cut my arm. My girlfriend abandoned me because I was different, weak, and all-around useless. No one has placed their faith in me like Haruhi has." His attention went to his prosthetic arm. "The point to what I'm trying to say is, I had no one in my corner for support until now." The man turned to look at the giant teenage boy. "If she means anything to you, you will go in that room, and you will sit there to let her know that you are there for her. Don't let her push you away, because if she had so much faith in you to suffer for an entire month, there's definitely a part of her that still trusts you with her heart." With that, he left.

Takashi stood there in astonishment for what he just heard.

He hated to admit it, but the servant was right.

The giant then entered the room.

Aiko looked over and saw him. "Taka-nii-sama, look!" She showed him the doll. "Haru-Mama gave me it!"  
"Do you like the doll?" He asked softly as he sat down in a chair on the opposite side from Haruhi.  
"Yes! I'll take it with me when I go through the process thingy!" This confused him. He looked to Haruhi.  
"She decided to try for the abortion, regardless of the risk." She looked to the girl. "I'm just as surprised."  
"But even if I stop being pregnant, Papa won't let me go home." Aiko looked at Haruhi. "Where can I go?"  
Haruhi opened her mouth to offer, but she was adopted into the family. Takashi spoke, "with us, Aiko."  
The girl looked to him with a gleam in her eye. "I can live with Haru-Mama and Taka-nii-sama? Really?"  
"…Nii-sama…" She stared at him in disbelief at the offer that he was giving the child. "Are you sure?"

Just hearing her talk to him, was a gift from the Heavens. "Isn't that what you want? To adopt her?

"Yes—of course I do, but I can't ask the Morinozuka Clan to do more than what they've already have…"  
He smiled to assure her. "You're a Morinozuka too, you have a right to do whatever you want."  
"So that means Haru-Mama can be my Mama and you can be Papa!" The child cheered.

Takashi watched her freeze in horror from the words before tears began to descend from her eyes. She got off the hospital bed and walked out of the room. Aiko looked concerned, but Takashi assured her that she was going to tell the doctor of her decision of going with the abortion. When the girl believed him, he got up to leave in order to find his little sister that left suddenly. After he walked out the door, she was already being comforted by her servant who offered a water bottle. He wanted to comfort her, not the man that was nothing but a butler. However, all bets were off as Misaki began to raise a hand up to her face as if to caress her cheek as a lover. Fueled with aggression from being protective, Takashi walked over and grasped his wrist firmly before shoving him a meter away.

"A servant does not touch their Master." He warned sternly until looking to Haruhi, "you worried the girl."  
"Y-Yeah. Sorry, she reminded me of my own girl that I need to find." Her head bowed. "I'll see Aiko-chan."  
In a flash, she was gone. Misaki was curious. "Interesting. Are you protecting her as a brother or a lover."  
Takashi glared. "Watch your mouth. Talking down to the family you serve doesn't go unpunished—"

"Correction, I work for Haruhi-sama. But after that display of dominance, I understand that Yamamoto Arata's view that she mentioned last night." With that, he offered a bottle of water with a smile. "It's a shame though—well, somewhat. I suppose the term would be incest if you both really see each other as siblings." To redirect the question, he shrugged. "Excuse me while I find Haruhi-sama's doctor, yes?"

Takashi thought about it as the other was leaving. "—what do you mean by that?"

"Long story short, the man was obviously psychotic, and a pedophile. But in his own crazy way, he cared deeply for Haruhi-sama and her own happiness… in a sense." Misaki was quiet for a moment. "From what the girls told me on the plane… he wanted the two of you to be some romantic loving pair that was destined to be together. He wanted her to have a loving family with kids and a lover. So what if he said it enough to have it burned into her head. Would she try to find a man to be with to get those words out of her mind? Will she purposely fall into the hands of a man that she is close to, especially when pregnant?"

Steel blue gray hues widened at this. "She wouldn't…"  
"You know her, not me. I wasn't at risk of pregnancy, though."  
"Haruhi is—" he stopped; at this point, he was unsure of many things.

"Regardless of who or what she is, what she needs is the most important thing that you can give her no matter what your relation is to her. Be it a friend, a brother, or a lover…" before he continued, he watched Takashi look away at that last part. "You look at her differently. You're reaction is different from that of your little brother. I supposed you're not capable of helping her when you seem a little lost yourself."

"You just told me that the bastards consider my sister as my lover."

"But you're not biologically related, are you?" Takashi tensed at this, so the servant shrugged softly. "The best way to help her is to figure out what she truly means to you. Are there things that you are more willing to do for her than your cousin?" He was not fully knowledgeable with names as of yet. "In high society… the daughters have to leave once they get married, right? What will you do when that—"

"Haruno," Haruhi called out, and the two males looked at her. "I'm leaving."  
"Coming," with a last glance toward Takashi, he followed her obediently.  
Takashi was curious, and concerned, about this. "Where are you going?"  
"To the cafeteria for a meal, is that alright?" He nodded. "Do what you want."  
His eyes widened at this—it was an invitation that he could join her. "Coming."  
Misaki looked at him for a moment, but could not help but smile. "Funny."  
"Eh?" The two looked at the grinning fiend curiously for what he said.

"As I know that I am a servant to you, Haruhi-sama… it almost seems that Takashi-sama is yours, too."

Takashi wanted to scold him again for the bold comment, but looked to Haruhi to see what her reaction was to this. She only smiled gently. It was almost as if she had also thought this in a way, but she merely continued walking with the two following her obediently. Haruhi then explained that she found the girl's doctor and told them of her decision, and that they took her in for the procedure immediately. After the explanation, everything made sense—as to why she would be going to the cafeteria after leaving the child so abruptly in the room. The three went in to the cafeteria and had a little bit of food, something that Haruhi had been taking lightly for some reason. Any food she ate was mostly green foods and nothing particularly greasy. When Takashi privately confronted her doctor about this, he stated that it was probably because she might have had a poor diet when she was held captive, that, or she gave majority of her food to the other girls that were known to be pregnant at the time. There were too many variables for it to be determined so easily without asking the patient herself, so they left it at that.

"Do you think Father will allow another daughter into the Morinozuka family?" Haruhi asked quietly. Her voice was so soft that Takashi almost missed the fact that she asked him something. "He adopted me into the family because the family had known me for seven years, but the equivalence to adopting one w—"

"If you want her in the family, she will become a Morinozuka. If he does not want to adopt her into the family, though unlikely, then I will if you choose not to." She stared at him in surprise. "You love the girl."  
The look of surprise turned into a warm smile, nodding. "When held captive, she clung to me—they all did of course, but Aiko-chan the most. It made me wonder if my biological daughter would be as sweet…"  
There was a pregnant pause until he spoke. "She mentioned that, if I rescued you… he would give you your daughter… I'm sorry I didn't make it on time. I—we did everything we could to find you and we d—"  
"I know you did your best, but I know where she is. The question is, would I be able to care for her better than the family she's with?" Her attention went to the food on her plate. "My precious, Little Keiko-chan…"  
"I'm sure if you explain what happened, and what your situation, they will return her to you." Takashi tried to do his best to help her think of ways to get her child back. "By saying you're from the Morinozuka C—"

"They are just fostering her for me." Haruhi sighed. "But to explain who her father is…"

"She never has to know that is was that man—that man's brother—"  
Her attention went to him fiercely. "Neither of them are the father of either!"  
The cafeteria became quiet. Takashi stared at her in disbelief at her. "…what?"  
Haruhi tensed after saying this. "I-I have to go, I want to be ready for Aiko-chan."  
As she got up and left, Takashi stood up with concern, "Haruhi, wait. What do y—"  
"Let her go." Misaki whispered, earning a glare. "Don't pressure her, that's rape, too."

This took Takashi by surprised—to hear that it was being implied that he was a possible candidate of becoming a rapist. "I have never touched her inappropriately. I would never do so, either. Do not dare t—"

"Rape is commonly associated with sexual assault, but that isn't the case." He tried to explain before the ticking time bomb of a big brother he was, was out of control. "It has everything to do about power." Angry eyes continued glaring, so he explained better. "If you ran after her, and forced her to tell her what she's hiding when she obviously doesn't want to tell you, that _is_ rape." Takashi's anger fled in that instant as it began to hit him with realization. "To take control over any other human being, Takashi-sama, is rape."

There had been times where he forced her to do things; like going to Ouran Academy, for one. Did that make him a rapist in her eyes? He was better than those bastards that had sexually assaulted her. However, did that really make him better—or was he on his way of being a full-fledged rapist? The very thought that he might one day sexually assault her invaded his entire mind and flipped the table with the remaining meals on it. Misaki stared at the mess in surprise to the aggression that was revealed in front of him, and he did not understand what all of that was about. He watched as Haruhi came running back over after most likely hearing the disturbance, and went to the two in a heavy pant.

"What… happened…?" She looked at the mess, then Misaki sitting there stunned, and then finally at Takashi who looked mortified in his own way. "Nii-sama," she regained her breath. "What happened?" He looked at her before back at the mess in front of him. Haruhi did not want to play games. "Haruno?"

"…I must have said something to make him upset. I'll clean up the mess. You two go wait for the girl."

Although she had done her best to run away from them, she had been led back to make sure nothing happened. Haruhi looked to Takashi. "Let's go." He was glued to his spot. "Nii-sama." The sibling did not hear her. "Takashi." His attention whipped to her so fast that she almost jumped. "Come wait with me."

He looked to Misaki who nodded, so he looked to her. "A-Ah…"

They were heading to the waiting room until her female doctor called to her, and they all stopped in the middle of the hallway. The woman was holding a large envelope before handing it to her a little nervously; it was almost as if something bad would happen. Takashi saw that it had Haruhi's name on it, along with her patient number and her main home address in case they would have needed to mail it to her. It seemed like there was a silent conversation between the two women; he did not know whether it was a girl talk or a doctor-patient thing. Thinking of how his doctor for years was actually one of her rapists—

"Sensei," Takashi looked to the woman stoically. "For an annual check-up for children, teens, and young adults, is it recommended, or even mandatory, to provide a semen sample?" The woman blinked at him.  
"I… uh…" she seemed a little surprised by the question and looked at Haruhi to see that she had the most deadliest glare possible. "I honestly don't know… I specialize with women. You should ask your—"  
"My doctor is presumed dead. For years, he has collect samples from me and my brother, and I—"  
Haruhi grabbed his arms to redirect his attention to her. "What did you just say?" Takashi was surprised at how concerned she sounded. "That bastard—to both of you—" Her head felt light and nearly fell over.

"Haruhi-sama!" The woman called out in concerned when she leaned against her big brother and dropped the envelope. "I told you earlier that stress was not good for you! To carry to even the second term this time will be very dangerous for you!" Although the doctor said this, Haruhi placed a hand on her hip as if to avoid showing signs of discomfort. "Haruhi-sama… are you okay?" She saw the tears in her eyes and knew what she was thinking. "If you do it now, it will be safe for you. I promise that you'll be able to h—"

"It's not me that I'm worried about…" Haruhi barely looked at her. "It's the child inside of me…"  
"Haruhi-sama… if you don't do the procedure, there is a chance that both you and the fetus would die."  
Takashi became alert and wrapped a protective arm around his little sister. "What are you talking about?"  
The doctor stayed silent, Haruhi explained. "I'm going through an ectopic pregnancy this time, Nii-sama."  
Remembering the term, he looked at her with worry. "The fetus is elsewhere? That's not safe, you s—"  
"It's alive. Are you really asking me to kill someone that hasn't had a chance to even live their life?"  
"At the cost of your own?" Haruhi immediately looked away, "Haruhi, _please_ reconsider the offer."  
The doctor softly agreed. "If it's any consolation… if we do it immediately, a heartbeat won't be there yet."  
This made Takashi feel a little more humane. "By this method, she can have children in the future still?"  
"If she decides to, yes. Our procedures have been very successful, which is why I implore her for—"

"Just get it over with…" Haruhi whispered in pain of her decision. "…before I regret it."

The doctor bowed and offered a hand to her.

* * *

Haruhi walked into the waiting room with a very dangerous look in her eye as she searched for her big brother who sat in a corner on a chair. He stood up with her envelope in hand, asking if the procedure went as planned. Her attention stayed glued on the envelope that he had, so he offered it to her without a second thought. Takashi noticed that something was not right as she looked at him _very_ unhappily.

"Did you look at the contents?" She inspected the envelope.  
"…no, it's not mine." His brows knitted. "Was the procedure s—"  
"As soon as she touched me, I broke her arm. So she gave me pills."  
Unaware if he heard her correctly, he repeated her. "…you broke her arm?"

"If I'm going to kill someone, again, it should be by myself, again." With that, she began to walk away. "Aiko-chan is finished. Draw the papers for her adoption process if you don't mind, Nii-sama?" Haruhi looked over her shoulder to see him nodded slowly. "Good, I hope to hear good news when you visit."

Takashi could only watch and stare as she walked away—but Misaki stood in front of her.

"Haruno, what are you doing?" She did not sound thrilled to see him.  
"You killed a man to protect those around you, this situation is different."  
"Yes… this time I'm only protecting myself from harm, imagine that."  
"Enough, Haruhi-sama." He scowled. "I think I understand now."  
"What do you possibly think you understand from this, Haruno."

"I was a generation before you in the chaos. You don't think I didn't learn from the one girl he liked?" She looked at him. "I didn't mean to over hear your conversation earlier, but after hearing it, it clicked. I know why he d—" in a flash, Haruhi kicked his legs under him and pinned him down to kill him. "So it's true?"

"If you breathe a word about it, I will kill you." With that, she jerked him once before leaving. "Let's go."

Misaki coughed and cleared his throat before getting up and joining her. It almost seemed that he was a little crazy to get up and follow her so obediently. Then again, there were things about her that the servant knew about while he, as her big brother, was in the dark. Pushing his worries aside, he made a call to his father to explain the situation to him—mainly about Little Aiko. Akira did not mind the new addition, but asked who it was that would be adopting her into the family. This led them both to be confused until he suggested that the head of the Morinozuka family should do so to keep the press away from Haruhi. After that, he warned his father of Haruhi's changed attitude that was a bit… scary.

Once Akira told him to stay at her side as her big brother, he stated he would deal with the paperwork.

The call ended on that note.

As he neared the room, he caught sight of Misaki rubbing his throat tenderly. "Are you alright?" Normally, he would not care too much about a servant, but this man was his tie to understanding Haruhi right now.

"I'll be fine," he answered hoarsely. "As you claimed, I've only known her less than a week. So I had no idea that she would be so protective about her offspring." His gaze lowered. "It may worsen afterward…"

Takashi eyed him cautiously. "After what?"

It was then that Misaki looked at him. "After her daughter is placed in her arms."  
"Being protective of one's children is not a bad thing." It was something to praise even.  
"Your view and her view are different, but they lead to the same exact thing regardless."  
This man's idea of beating around the bush was starting to anger him. "Which would be?"

"Once the child is in her arms, there is a chance that she will be hostile if someone of the opposite gender approaches her. You, on the other hand, will most likely do anything in your power to make sure that everything that happened to Haruhi, wouldn't happen to her." Misaki watched Takashi tense at the fact. "As a couple would, both of you want to keep her safe and sound. Isn't that about the sum of it?"

Takashi thought on it, but did not answer him as he entered the room to take his seat as he did earlier.

"I want to be Haru-Mama's daughter!" Aiko cried almost hysterically. "I don't want to be a nee-chan!"  
"Calling me your mother would pose as a probably, Aiko-chan. I pretend that I'm a boy at school."  
"Then I'll call you Haru-Papa! I don't want a stranger to be Mama and Papa! Please Haru-Mama!"  
She closed her eyes to contain her anger. "Aiko-chan…" Her hands tightened into fists angrily.

Takashi began to grow concern, "would it be alright if I adopt you then?" The two females looked at him.  
It was obvious that the child began to think about it. "Can't Nii-sama and Haru-Mama adopt me together?"  
"Ai—" Haruhi saw Haruno watching with a knowing look. She gave in. "What do you think, Nii-sama?"  
The giant was taken aback by her question, but what to say? "…if that's what you want, I won't dis—"  
"Yay! Nii-sama is Taka-Papa! Haru-Mama is Haru-Mama!" Aiko almost jumped out of the bed excitedly.  
He cringed when he should have been more careful speaking. Haruhi spoke, "I'm glad you're happy."  
"Haruhi…" Takashi watched as she brought her phone out. "Are you sure about this decision?"

"You tell me, Nii-sama. I'm too tired to argue anymore. I'm forced into an abortion for self-preservation. Nothing can get worse than that. Now then, do you want to help me adopt her, or not?" Haruhi watched him nod weakly. After that, she dialed and talked to her adoptive father. "Did Nii-sama talk to you about adopting Aiko-chan?" He explained that she was getting it processed now. "Wait on it. Nii-sama and I will do it ourselves. Aiko-chan doesn't seem as if she will want it any other way." He understood. "Thank you."

With that… she ended the conversation and stood up.

"Come on Nii-sama, we have papers to deal with."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Yes, yes... I know I haven't updated much of anything. In my defense, between traveling and poor health coming after it, doesn't help. So getting those demanding posts and threatening to come after me, I could just delete the story and be done with it. Try thinking about that next time before you review to nag.

On a lighter note, despite my chest pain (only deviantART & Facebook buddies would know of this), I whipped this chapter up yesterday.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Blood-Soaked World.**

**Now—**

Takashi had been trying to keep a very close eye on her during the times they were together. Although he would watch over her during hosting hours, he could hardly spend any time with her. There were two girls that were added to the family over the month of Haruhi's return: one biological daughter to Haruhi, one adoptive daughter to both Haruhi _and_ Takashi. It was also as Misaki mentioned back at the hospital… Haruhi was very protective of them around other men—even other women. Calling Haruhi an over-protective mother might be the proper title for her, but it was understandable for the family members.

"Haru-chan!" Mitsukuni waved as she entered the music room. "We were about to look for you!"

Haruhi was fifteen minutes late for Host Club preparations. It was unlike her to be so late, yet no one would dare ask if there was something wrong. They were all learning that there were new boundaries… new rules that everyone had to accommodate. The most important one of all was to make sure they did not back her into a corner, mentally or physically, otherwise she would become hostile. Kyouya had approached her with a question to the whereabouts of the man who kidnapped her, and she snapped.

She was not the same young woman they knew.

"Sorry, I was checking on Aiko-chan before I came here." That said by the late bird, she walked over to Kyouya. "May I have a word with you?" He nodded and followed her a few yards away. "Did you get the tests sent in for me?" The Vice President sighed and looked away. "Senpai, I need to know when I can—"

"I put a rush order on the results. I'll let you know by the end of the day, I promise."  
Her head lowered in disappointment, "I just hope that it doesn't get ugly. Nii-sama w—"  
"I'm sure everything will work out the way you want." He carefully nudged her toward Takashi.  
"…if you say so." Haruhi walked over to her brother and older cousin. "Is there a theme today?"

"Nope! Just us being us!" He smiled happily. "Do you want to join us for tea and cake?!"  
"Mitsukuni," Takashi warned faintly as he knew that his sister was not fond of sweets.  
"Oh, oops! Um… we could have… um…" The little senior looked around. "Croissants!"

Haruhi looked at the yellow cake with chocolate frosting, covered in strawberries. "I suppose a small slice of cake wouldn't hurt, what kind of tea are you drinking with it?" The two stared at her in disbelief that she was willing to have some cake when she was one person—other than Yasuchika, that refused such things. "Well?" Neither answered as they continued staring, so lifted her brother's cup of tea to take a whiff to get an idea. "Da Hong Pao, huh? That seems like a fitting combination with cake and cookies."

"Really?!" Mitsukuni became excited at this. "So you'll join us for some before the customers come?!"  
"Sure," Haruhi sat herself between them at the small, round table. Mitsukuni cut a piece of cake for her.  
"Here you go Haru-chan!" He set the plate in front of her and poured her some tea to go with it. "Enjoy!"  
"Thank you."She smiled softly as she grabbed a fork, cut through the cake, and took a bit. "Tastes good."  
"Really?! I'm glad you like it! Let's dig in!" Mitsukuni practically forced Takashi to eat some with them.

As the family trio ate their desserts, Kyouya felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. His eyes gazed left and right before pulling his phone out to peek at the number that was trying to reach him. It was no surprise that it was the hospital techs that were hopefully calling with the results that both he and Haruhi were waiting for. He turned to call Haruhi over so she could learn the truth with the call, but what if it was not about the results? Maybe the results were going to be delayed or they did not receive enough samples to run the tests fully. There was only one way to find out for sure, leading him to walk over to a secluded area from the other hosts in order to answer the call privately.

"Ohtori." He almost whispered as if he was snooping into someone else's business. Unfortunately, though, it was quite true at the moment. "Have the results come in already from the tests?" The laboratory technician confirmed that the test he had him run was completed, and asked him to stop by to retrieve the results that he wanted. "Actually," his attention turned to Haruhi who was trying to enjoy time with her family. To trouble her right now would be a problem for everyone. "I'll come down right now, is this okay?"

There were no arguments from the other, so he ended the call, and slipped the phone in his pocket.

Now came the hard part; leaving without telling everyone where he was truly going. He looked at the time to see that hosting hours would start very soon. However, the results were very important. "Haruhi." The Host Club members stopped everything that they were doing to look at him as he approached the happy family. "My father is instructing me to follow up on something immediately at one of his facilities," that said, he offered his precious notebook and laptop to her. "Can you manage the club activities while I'm absent?" If he called off hosting hours at the last minute, not only would there be dozens of upset ladies, but it would give Haruhi an opportunity to follow him. "I should be back in an hour—two hours the latest."

"Of course," she took the items and set them on the table behind her so she would not get them dirty. "I hope there's not a problem where you're going?" It did not seem like Haruhi noticed anything so far, good.

"No, it seems he wants me to accompany him for a meeting to see what it's like first hand."  
This tipped her off immediately, but she shrugged it off. "Okay, have fun at the meeting then."  
"Always," Kyouya retorted almost sarcastically before leaving the music room to go to the hospital.

The twins grew suspicious about the relationship between the two. "Haaaaruuuuhiiii," they came over and say across from her at the table. "What's the deal, huh? You _hated_ Kyouya-senpai when you arrived, then you two were able to acknowledge each other—barely, now you two are best pals? Are you dating him?!"

Takashi choked on the piece of cake he was trying to eat. Never did he think he would hear such a ridiculous question, but it almost seemed possible. First Haruhi's almost best friends with her personal butler, and now there is Kyouya getting chummy with her. Mitsukuni looked at everyone with an unreadable expression; wondering if he should be happy or upset about the thought of Haruhi dating. It would be good because she could experience what real love was, but upset that it was with Kyouya. That guy would not date her without having some sort of merit in it for himself. With that, his gaze hardened.

"H—"

"No!" Tamaki cried as he ran over to the table for the discussion. "Mommy would never cheat on me!"

"I only tolerate his existence is because he is useful to me alive rather than dead." Haruhi answered firmly."Realistically, I _am_ trying my best to get over what happened to the others and me while we were held against our will in China. Should he tend to betray me and my trust, I'll simply kill him for doing so."

They all stared at her for the frightening words that came out of her mouth. He retorted with worry, "you can kill everyone who betrays you, that's murder." Haruhi looked at him dangerously. "Murder is a crime."  
"So raping me and all those girls _isn't_?" She stood up to challenge the kind-hearted fool. "The only reason why I'm at school is to protect Aiko-chan. The only reason why I'm _here_, is because I know you're no match for me. I may have been stupid for not protecting myself before, but I will protect myself now."  
"I can't have you as a part of this Host Club—or be anywhere near it with that kind of attitude…" Tamaki earned everyone's unhappy gazes at what he was implying. "Haruhi… I'm sorry, but you have to leave."  
Haruhi smiled. "If I leave, your club will disappear. Nii-sama and Mitsukuni would leave in a heartbeat." She sat back down as if she was negotiating. "Hikaru and Kaoru won't be affected too much since all my classes are with them." Her gaze hardened. "Not to mention that the girls at school would be upset."

"Haruhi," Takashi spoke quietly in hopes to settle her aggression. "He's being protective of Kyouya."  
"Kyouya-senpai knows where he stands." She turned to him with a softer glare than it was with Tamaki.  
"I understand, but Tamaki doesn't." There was no getting through to her, so he had to change the topic.  
"So you're willing to take his side over mine?" Her form stood up abruptly to sit somewhere a little quiet.  
The attitude she revealed to them was unbecoming, but they could not blame her, either. "Haruhi…"

"Let me try," Kaoru intervened the onslaught of the sibling feud. Not waiting for permission from the giant, he came over to sit at the chair beside her, crossed his arms, and lied his head against the table. "Can we doodle in his notebook?" Haruhi looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Just a little tiny drawing of a cat?"

She smirked at his persistence, "Not a chance."

With that, the two hit it right off the bat. It was no surprise since Kaoru was her first friend after she enrolled into Ouran, but only Hikaru knew the true extent of their relationship. Kaoru was one of the most submissive males at school, making it a little easier for him to get closer to Haruhi without trying. Granted, Kasanoda Ritsu was also a decent candidate for this position, but he was not present right now. Takashi watched as Haruhi easily lightened up with the younger Hitachiin twin until looking at Tamaki with a glare.

Catching the drift, Tamaki took in a deep breath before going to her for round two of their fight. "I'm sorry," Haruhi and Kaoru looked up at him, almost unfazed by his words. "Kyouya was my first friend when I came to this country, so threatening to kill him made me upset. Surely… you can understand my view?"

"Of course I can, but can you understand mine?" She crossed her legs as if she were a gentleman, then rest her hands on her lap. "It's no secret that I've been raped, impregnated, raped some more, gave birth to my daughter, and raped some more only to be impregnated once again." Kaoru looked at her, watching as small beads of sweat appeared on her face. He looked down to see her hands tighten into fists. "If anything, I could even blame the most recent event on you. Wasn't it you that continues to claim that the Host Club exists to bring fortune to the ladies? Where is my fortune? Ah—wait, I'm not a lady, I'm a—"

"Haruhi," Kaoru smiled brightly as he interrupted. "There's still some time before hosting hours, can we go see how Aiko-chan is doing?" She turned to him with confusion in her eyes. "Maybe bring her here, too?"

"Kaoru…" It must have been obvious to him that she was having some pain, so she nodded. "Sure."

She placed the notebook and laptop in a bag before putting the strap on her shoulder, and they left.

Tamaki was completely defeated by her; he failed as a host…

"Haru-chan's been having chest pain recently, so the conversation must have been stressful on her body. It doesn't help that she wants to take care of Kei-chan by herself when she's at the estate." Mitsukuni tired to think about it a little more. "I heard Haru-chan became violent when a butler was holding Kei-chan…"

"…ah," Takashi could do nothing about the situation at the time, either. "Only maids and our parents are allowed to handle Keiko in order to protect our staff members." It was a bit sad to say in a sense…  
"I read on the internet that majority of teenage girls having kids is really frowned upon, and more so when they're no married." Hikaru looked over at Tamaki. "It doesn't help that the journalist are making it public."  
The Host King tried to think about it a little more, but it was hard to comprehend everything. "But it's not her fault—she was taking advantage of by adults. How can anyone scold her for something like that?"  
"People don't know that, some don't even care." Hikaru placed his hands behind his head and looked away. "I probably would have given her Hell and teased her if I didn't even know the truth about it all."

He stopped to think about everything, even sat down to consume the information. "…how will she get married?" Takashi glared at him for asking this. "Not many families would want a woman with a child—"

"She's a mother, not a whore." Takashi stood up heatedly. "If they disapprove my niece, they're fools."

"That's right!" Mitsukuni took a big bit of cake.

* * *

"I was told that the results were ready." Kyouya entered the laboratory. "Was there a match?"

"Yes, but I don't see a pleasant outcome since you gave me two DNA samples that happened to be brothers." The technician frowned unhappily. Kyouya glared at him; thinking that he went and snooped around for more information of the test subjects. "The samples where close enough to determine the information, not to mention that you gave me the names in order for a legitimate document." He handed him the paper. "All in all, the father is Morinozuka Satoshi. My guess, that idiot switched the semen by mistake when he went after Morinozuka. Onishi-Sensei wasn't the smartest when it came to lab work."

"Which was why he worked in pediatrics with children to teenagers," Kyouya looked at the paperwork unhappily. "He did as his older twin asked and received semen samples from Haruhi's brothers in order to coordinate the rape attacks to get her pregnant with their offspring." He set the paperwork down to think things through. "Although she told me that this was the plan all along… to attack her at a young age then continue the abuse for years?" His head shook at the idea of everything. "Anyway, Keiko is Satoshi-kun's biological daughter? That would make Mori-senpai her biological niece…"

"Shame, too." The lab technician typed away on the computer. "Since Haruhi-sama isn't biologically a Morinozuka, she can marry her brothers without many complications. If her daughter was the eldest's—"

"Change it."  
"What?"

Kyouya looked at the document before putting it in the paper shredder to destroy the evidence. "I want you to change the paternity results of Morinozuka Keiko, and put Morinozuka Takashi as the father."  
"That's… illegal—I can lose my job you know." Earning a glare for talking back, he sighed. "Yes sir."  
"Haruhi plans to tell their father about their scheme of impregnating her with a Morinozuka offspring, so letting them all think that Mori-senpai is the father would be best for the entire family since he's the heir."

"So that way the two could get married and be a family, huh?" He changed the name and began printing out the new document that gave false proof. "What I don't understand is… with this information—with their DNA samples, I was able to check her other abortions from the tests done previously, the eldest _was_ the father of both of them. So why would Sensei be an idiot and screw up the one time she gave birth?"

"There's no telling what was going through their minds… or if it was even intentional."

With the new paperwork in hand to hand over to Haruhi, Kyouya began to ponder whether this was going to be the right thing to do. Takashi was older than Haruhi, which would make for a decent couple as opposed to Satoshi being a few months younger than her—with her birthday around the corner no less. It also would be a better position for the child if the father were the heir to the family businesses instead of the second son that would receive little to no credit for his existence. Being anything but the first born was nothing but a pain. However, even more importantly, Haruhi had hoped Keiko would be Takashi's child.

Not that it mattered; Haruhi's daughter was a Morinozuka no matter which brother was her father.

He exhaled a stressful sigh for the actions that he was taking, and hoped to the Gods that no one would ever find out about this situation. Hopefully, no one would even think twice about the paperwork, but he would have to do his best o keep an eye on the laboratories in case they wanted another one done. Time was getting short for him; he had to make it back to school before someone figured out what he was doing. All he could do was pray that he was doing everything right for everyone's best interests.

"God help us."

With the information altered in the system to have Morinozuka Keiko as Morinozuka Takashi daughter and not Morinozuka Satoshi, Kyouya thanked the technician and left the hospital. Outside awaiting for him was a black car with his bodyguards standing around patiently. He continued to contemplate on his actions despite telling himself that he did it with the best intentions. Although there was no merit for himself by changing paternity results, a doctor of the Ohtori hospital did this to her, so there were things that his family had to make up for. Without it, Haruhi would tell her father everything, and risk being sued for several counts. The biggest issue was having a psychotic man abusing his powers as a doctor. Not only could it lead to a severe lawsuit, it would tarnish the hospital business, and then some.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at school.

Kyouya heavily walked up the stairs and down the halls to the music room where everything was neat and in order. Only, there was a difference today… there seemed to be a thirty-seven percent increase in the population in the room today. What could Haruhi have possibly done to lure so many ladies in today? He looked back and forth through the girls to see everyone smiling and enjoying themselves with their hosts as they did every day. Seconds later, he heard a giggle of two little girls, and looked over to see that Aiko was harassing Ritsu by playing with his hair and putting berets and hair clips in to make him look cute. Poor guy was completely embarrassed, but it was obvious to everyone that he was sucking up the humiliation for Haruhi's sake, and for Aiko's.

"I almost wonder if the girls would be this accepting if they knew that I had a five month old daughter." Hearing her voice, Kyouya looked to his side to see Haruhi observing the playtime that caught most attention from the girls. She eventually looked up at him in return. "I'm sure your meeting went well?"

It was obvious that she knew better. "Yes, I have the paperwork." He offered the medical file.  
"…thank you." She took it and opened the folder to look at the results. "…Nii-sama's her father, huh?"  
"I didn't look at the file, I only picked it up when they said the results came in. Didn't you want him as—"  
"It doesn't matter who it is, but it does help since he helped with the adoption papers for Aiko-chan…"  
"He's on her adoption papers too?" This surprised him; being too engulfed in all other matters.

"Yeah," Haruhi closed the file and watched Ritsu offer to play 'Tea Party' with the chipper child. "But it still leads to a problem." She felt Kyouya's gaze harden on her in confusion. "Tamaki mentioned how it was possible for someone like me to get married with all the baggage I posses. Quite frankly, he's right."

"Mori-senpai _is_ Keiko's father, and Aiko's adoptive father." This thick-headed girl. "He would be a good—"  
"I've tainted the Morinozuka family enough," she looked up at him, "I don't want to drag Nii-sama down."  
It was a good point. He did not know how to see her view right now. "Kasanoda-kun seems decent."  
This caused her to cover her mouth to muffle a laugh at the thought, earning everyone's gaze. "I know."

"Haru-Papa!" Aiko waved happily. "Rit-kun wants to have a tea party! Join us!"  
Haruhi smiled warmly, "looks like motherhood is calling." She walked away.  
The Shadow King smirked as he shifted his glasses. "In this case, fatherhood."

For a brief moment, she turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him.

He scoffed before walking over to the table with his notebook and laptop to see that everything was three times more organize than he last had it. That was always a benefit of leaving her in charge of things. As he typed away to add a few touches, his gaze leered over to see Haruhi smiling and having a good time with her adoptive daughter and Kasanoda Ritsu. They looked like a perfect couple since Ritsu was very submissive when it came to Haruhi, and even the customers liked seeing them together.

The customers…

They knew what happened to her in China, they knew that she was a female dressed as a boy to protect herself, and they knew of her adoptive child. What they did not know was that she was adopted into the Morinozuka family, had been raped on more than one occasion by many men, and she had a daughter of her own. Thinking about this, Kyouya felt his mind linger on his choice of changing the paternity test. It was for the best—it was with good intentions, he kept reminding himself. His head shook out of the thoughts the moment he felt someone hovering over him, and looked over his shoulder.

"Haruhi started to have some chest pains again." It was a very upset Kaoru. "Should she really be here?"

"There's nothing we can do about it, just keep her happy and stress free." Kyouya closed the laptop. "Tell me, did Tamaki say something stupid to Haruhi while I was gone?" Kaoru prickled and looked away as if he did not hear the question. "…Kaoru, what happened? What was this marriage nonsense he spewed?"

"Oh, that. I don't know, I took her out so we could get Aiko-chan, but we waited outside the room to hear them a little longer. After he mentioned marriage, she stormed off." Nervously, he scratched the side of his face. "Things got really heated because Tono was being… well… Tono." He scurried away quickly.

Great…

Kyouya sighed, "idiot…"

Aiko pointed at the redhead. "Haru-Papa, Rit-kun is blushing like a lobster!"  
She smiled. "Aiko-chan, stop teasing him so much if you want him to keep playing with you."  
"I don't mind," Ritsu earned a curious gaze. "I-I mean… if it's A-Aiko or y-you… I-I don't mind at all!"  
Haruhi hummed with amusement, "you are a very kind person indeed, Casanova-kun."  
"N-No… it's n-nothing… really…" His blush worsened as he looked away.

"Rit-kun likes Haru-Papa!" The little girl squealed in delight. "Rit-kun likes Haru-Papa!"  
"A-Aiko-chan, don't be rude." Haruhi turned to Ritsu to apologize. "Sorry, she means well."  
"N-No, it's okay. I m-mean… I kinda do… l-like you, m-more than a friend." He blushed harder.

Haruhi stared at him in surprise to hear this from him; to hear that someone liked her while knowing everything that had happened to her. It was understandable that most people liked her because they knew nothing about her. The girls liked her because she was a sibling to Takashi, but found out that she was a girl and liked her even more. Even the Host Club liked her despite knowing about tragic events…

Due to not hearing a response, his gaze lowered to the ground. "I-I know I'm probably not the best guy to be around, and your brothers obviously don't like it much when you're around me…" He gulped nervously as he lifted his gaze to look at her. "I-If it's okay with you… m-maybe we could… g-go on a date?"

Everyone stared in high hopes—well, everyone accept the Host Club, mostly.

Haruhi smiled weakly and placed her hand on his. "I admire your courage, but you're the last person I want to hurt right now." He looked away unhappily, but she squeezed his hand. "You know why I can't."

"Yeah… I understand…"

* * *

A/N: Raise your hand if you saw that coming!


End file.
